Try (3)
by Whip-Owl
Summary: The four new clans of the lake are having trouble finding enough prey to live on, because of the poison rain. This problem is only made worse by how many cats are having kits. They need more food than most. But the clans, aren't ones to give up. They're going to try, and Starclan has a way they can live. *Sequel to Phenominon. Rating may change.*
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors. Review please. And yes, I've stopped naming chapters.)

Lightningstar climbed up a few runs of what was called a ladder. Living in an old horse place meant there were plenty of 'ladders' around. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather round! I have an important announcement!" she shouted.

The cats gathered around, some looking curious, Lizardkit looking eager. She knew what this was about. "It's time for our two kits to become apprentices!" Lightningstar shouted. "Lizardkit, from now on your name will be Lizardpaw." There were cheers as cats called out her name. Lizardpaw puffed out a little in pride. "You're mentor will be Wingshadow."

Lizardpaw ran over and touched noses to Wingshadow. Wingshadow smiled for her, but as soon as she looked away Wingshadow mouthed, 'Me?'

Lightningstar gave a tinny nod. "As the clan had just started, I couldn't give Wingshadow an apprentice. Now she can have one, and I'm sure you will train her well Wingshadow." Wingshadow nodded, but she didn't look as confident as Lightningstar sounded. She pressed on. "It is also time for Slitherkit to become an apprentice. Slitherkit, from now on your name will be Slitherpaw!" The cats cheered for him too. Lizardpaw was especially loud, considering they were siblings. "However Slitherpaw has chosen a different path. Slitherpaw will be our medicine cat apprentice, so his mentor will be Ashpelt."

Lizardpaw was looking at him in shock now. She knew he'd wanted to be a medicine cat, but Lightningstar had feeling Lizardpaw expected him to grow out of it.

Ashpelt walked up to Slitherpaw and they touched noses. "Thank you Lightningstar, I will train him well."

Lightningstar nodded. "I'm sure you will."

* * *

The cats of Stormclan watched glumly as Angelwing shoved aside bad prey. With all the poison rain they'd gotten lately there was lots of bad prey, prey that could kill them if they ate it. Unfortunately, far too much prey was being judged as bad. It was getting hard to feed the clan.

Stormstar sighed and walked off. Nightwind watched him go with concern. She and Angelwing looked at each other. Angelwing nodded and the two walked up to him. "Stormstar?" Nightwind called.

Stormstar considered not answering, but he was leader, it was his job to keep his clan strong, and that's what he would do. "Yes?"

"What are we going to do about the poison? The clan is going to starve if this keeps up." Nightwind replied.

"And I don't see it stopping any time soon." Angelwing added.

Truth be told, Stormstar had no idea what he was going to do. The clan had hunted more to try making up for the bad prey, but they simply couldn't keep up, and there was only so much prey they could hunt. He looked up to the sky as he thought, and it was the sky that gave him his next idea. "When's the next Medicine cat meeting?" he asked.

"You mean moonpool gathering. In a few days. Why?" Angel answered.

"Talk to Starclan. They'll know what to do about this."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So, what are we going to do about this?" That was the first thing Firestar said at the Starclan meeting.

The question was greeted by silence. No one expected Firestar of all cats not to have an answer.

Crowfeather was the first to break the silence. "They'll have to move."

"What would we do without you stating the obvious?" Jayfeather asked sarcastically. Going back to being serious, he continued, "And where will we move them?"

Through all this Bramblestar sat looking thoughtful. "You know, we could take them to the original clans."

"What?" Graystripe asked in disbelief.

"What?" Firestar echoed. But, he sounded more like he thought it was a good idea, and wanted to know more details.

"Think about it. We left because of the twolegs, but they're all gone. And there's territory there similar to all the new clans' territories." Brambleclaw explained.

"That actually makes sense." Onestar said.

"But who's going to lead them there?" Blackstar asked.

"The original four." Cinderpelt said as if it was common sense. And in a way, it was. "Bramblestar, Crowfeather, Tawnypelt, and Feathertail."

The cats all looked at each other. "Well, I'll do it." Bramblestar agreed.

"Me too." Feathertail added.

Crowfeather seemed shocked, and not too pleased, but he and Tawnypelt also agreed.

Firestar nodded. "So, we'll tell the medicine cats about this when they arrive."

* * *

Fallenstar ran into the medicine den. "You wanted to talk to me Sliverstripes?" Fallenstar asked. "Where's Icepelt?" His deputy, Fangmouth, had told him Sliverstripes needed to talk to him about Icepelt.

Sliverstripes nodded. "I have good news." She said.

Before she could say what it was, Icepelt came into view. "I'm having kits!" she mewed excitedly.

"You are? That's great!" He ran over and touched noses to her. "Oh Icepelt that's wonderful."

"She's having kits?" Bravepaw, a Fallenclan apprentice, had poked his head into the den. Fallenstar nodded happily.

Bravepaw ducked out and before long everyone knew Icepelt was having kits. Everyone also expressed how happy they were for her and Fallenstar.

Fallenstar was thrilled too, but he had leader duties to attend. He promised himself he'd pay more attention to his kits once they were born.

While he was worrying about his clan, which was short on food because of the poison rain, and his kits, his deputy and medicine cats had worries of their own. "Everyone seems happy about Fallenstar and Icepelt's kits." Fangmouth commented, as they walked together.

Sliverstripes nodded. "He is the leader."

"But no one knows about our kits. Do they?" Fangmouth asked, turning to look at Sliverstripes for the first time in their walk.

Sliverstripes shook her head. "No, and I hope they don't find out." She looked at her stomach. It was growing, but so far not at a noticeable amount.

Fangmouth came closer and gently brushed her so she'd lean on him. "It doesn't matter. I love you. And we'll love our kits." He put his tail on her stomach.

(Sorry that the chapters are short. I try to make them longer, but long chapters have never been my strong point.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Angelwing walked towards Moonpool. No one accompanied her yet, but she had been expecting that. Stormclan was closest to Moonpool, at least their camp.

Sure enough, Brokenclaw from Moonclan, and Sliverstripes from Fallenclan soon joined her. "Hello Angelwing." Brokenclaw greeted.

Angelwing gave him a nod. "Hello." She flashed a quick look over him. He was thin, clearly Moonclan was having the same food problems. _Have faith. _She told herself. _Starclan will know what to do. _

Sliverstripes looked around. "Where's Ashpelt?"

The other two looked at each other. Neither of them knew. "He does have the farthest to come." Brokenclaw started.

"Hey!" Ashpelt called. He ran over to them. "Sorry." He panted. "Had to get my apprentice."

"You have an apprentice?" Angelwing asked in interest.

Ashpelt nodded and waved his tail. Slitherkit, who Angelwing supposed was Slitherpaw now, walked over. "Hello." He said. He looked nervous, but also eager.

Angelwing smiled, trying to ease his fear. "Hi Slitherpaw. It's nice to have another medicine cat with us."

They started moving forward again. "You know my name?" Slitherpaw asked.

"Well, after that huge battle recently. . ." Angelwing said. She didn't have to explain any further.

They made it to moonpool, and all five of them put their noses to the water, falling asleep.

The odd thing was, when they woke up in Starclan, they were still all together. They looked at each other in confusion. "Well that's weird." Angelwing said.

"What? What's wrong?" Slitherpaw wanted to know.

Ashpelt shook his head. "It's just, it's not often we're together in our dreams."

Brokenclaw gave him a raised eyebrow look. "Not often? I don't think it's ever happened."

"Maybe we can explain." The medicine cats turned. Bramblestar, Crowfeather, Feathertail, and Tawnypelt all came out of the trees. It was Bramblestar who'd spoken. He continued. "You're here together, because all of the clans have the same problem."

Angelwing blanked for a moment. _Same problem? _Then it hit her. "The poison rain."

Bramblestar nodded. Feathertail spoke. "We think we have a way to help."

"How?" Angelwing asked.

"The poison rain isn't everywhere." Feathertail explained. She seemed hesitant to keep going. "We think, if the clans move, you'll be safe."

"What?" Slitherpaw asked in disbelief.

Sliverstripes, catching on faster, asked, "Move where?"

"You're either going to move or starve here!" Crowfeather snapped. Then he suddenly seemed to be embarrassed by his own outburst, and stepped back. He might've looked at Feathertail right before doing so, but Angelwing doubted it. The glance had been too fast to be real.

Tawnypelt meanwhile, replied to Sliverstripes. "The clans weren't always around the lake. We used to live farther away. It seems only fitting you go there."

Brokenclaw gave her the look he'd given Ashpelt earlier. "And how are we going to find this place."

Crowfeather rolled his eyes. "We're going to lead you there."

Brokenclaw blinked, clearing he hadn't been expecting that. "Really?"

Bramblestar nodded. "Now, you should get back and tell your leaders. We'll come tomorrow morning."

Ashpelt nodded. The cats began to fade out. Angelwing was the last to leave. "Thank you." She said.

She saw Bramblestar bow his head, before the world of Starclan faded, and they were back to moonpool. For a second they all looked at each other, then Slitherpaw broke the silence. "We're going to leave the lake!?" he demanded, still sounding like he didn't believe.

Ashpelt looked at Slitherpaw sympathetically. "I know it doesn't seem like a good idea right now, but we're all just starving here. . ."

"But . . . but. . ." Slitherpaw stammered. "We've figured everything out here. It took so long to find a place for the clans to meet during the full moon. And we had to find territories, and now that's going to have to happen all over again?"

"Starclan will help us." Angelwing told him, trying to reassure him. But truth be told she was worried about this too.

"Let's just get back and tell the leaders." Sliverstripes suggested. "If we don't the Starclan cats will show up and they won't have a clue what's going on."

_Like that hasn't happened before. _Angelwing thought in amusment. When Starclan had first come to them about making the new clans, they hadn't had a clue what was going on. But this time, they could know, so they should. She nodded. The cats walked down from moonpool and started their separate ways towards camp.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Springstar jumped up. "I have an announcement!" she shouted. Her clan, mostly kits, came scrambling over. She gave a soft sigh, so many kits, so little to feed them with. Maybe her deputy and sister Autumnpelt had been right, and they should've turned some of the kits down. _No. _She thought firmly. _We have not right to judge kits like that. _

"It's time for Frogkit, Twinklekit, and Roughkit to become apprentices. Frogkit, from now on your name will be Frogpaw." The kits started cheering right away. Springstar raised her voice over them. "Your mentor will be Stripedtail!" Stripedtail was one of the few cats here who was not her sibling or a kit. She could lower her voice a bit now. The kits had realized they should be quiet. "Twinklekit, from now on your name will be Twinklepaw, and your name will Autumnpelt." There were a few excited and jealous whispers at that. "And Roughkit, from now on, your name will be Roughpaw, and your mentor will be-"

Springstar stopped. She was going to give Summerheart the task of being Roughpaw's mentor. It wasn't something she was looking forward to, considering how ditzy Summerheart could be. But that wasn't why she'd stopped. She'd heard whispers towards the back, and then saw the cause. A cat with black fur, fur that actually seemed more red in the light, and blue eyes was walking forward.

"Can I help you?" Springstar asked.

"My name's Red." The cat introduced. "And I'd like to join this group. A clan, right?"

Springstar tried to hide her eagerness, but it was hard. It would be nice to have another already full grown cat. "Yes, it's a clan." She confirmed. "And you can join. From now on you can be," she gave it some thought. The expression Red was making gave her enough of an idea. "Redspirit."

Redspirit smiled, clearing thinking this was a fitting name to. "Thank you." She bowed her head, and walked off.

Springstar cleared her throat. "Alright. Now, Roughpaw, your mentor will be Summerheart. That is everything."

The kits burst into cheering and chatter. The new apprentices touched noses with their mentors. Springstar smiled. It was hard to take care of this clan, but it was worth it.

* * *

"Lightningstar."

The leader of Lightningclan turned her head at the familiar voice. It was Ashpelt, back from moonpool with Slitherpaw. "Yes?"

"We need to talk."

Lightningstar recognized that tone, they needed to talk in private. "Alright. Follow me." She led them up the thing called a ladder. The ground at the top of the ladder was Lightningstar's den. She was convinced it was too much space for her, especially when she wasn't going to have a mate. But the other cats had thought it was a good place, and there were only some many other places to make dens in the old horse place.

Lightningstar turned around once she was at the top. "Alright, what is it?"

"Starclan thinks they have a way to save us from starving, with the poison rain there hasn't been much food." Ashpelt explained.

Lightningstar nodded. "Yes, I know." she wondered if her natural impatient personality slipped into that comment. "What does Starclan suggest?"

Ashpelt and Slitherpaw looked at each other. "That's where is gets complicated." Ashpelt told her. "Starclan has suggested we move. They have a place they can lead us to."

"Apparently the clans used to live there." Slitherpaw added.

Lightningstar stared blankly for a moment. Ashpelt walked a little closer. "Lightningstar?"

She snapped out. "Alright. If that's what Starclan thinks, fine. Now, I should tell the clan."

She walked out back to the ladder. She was about half way down when she called her clan mates over. Everyone wandered over curiously. "I'll get straight to the point." Lightningstar said. "We're in danger of starving here. Starclan has place the clans used to be they could take us to, and we'd be safe." As she and the medicine cats had guessed, several of the cats had objections or fears. Most of them were the same as the medicine cats and Lightningstar herself had. However she did her best to comfort them all.

"Lightningstar!" Lightningstar turned. It was Sorrowpaw. "Lightningstar, when do we leave?" She asked.

Despite the situation Lightningstar gave a small smile. It was things like this that made her like Sorrowpaw. She looked at Ashpelt for the answer. "Tomorrow morning." He told them all.

The cats got nervous all over again. Lightningstar rolled her yes. Zipfoot was oblivious to her being upset. "That doesn't leave much time to prepare."

"Yes I know!" Lightningstar snapped. "But Starclan knows what it's doing, and there's not much that we have to do to prepare. Just make sure you've had something to eat before tomorrow."

"Easier said than done." Blazepelt muttered. But everyone left, some of them going to hunt.

Slitherpaw turned to Ashpelt. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked.

Ashpelt looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure. Getting some herbs for the journey might come in handy. But then we'd have to carry them the whole way."

Lightningstar sighed softly. "Aren't there some herbs with long term affects you could give us _before _we left?"

Ashpelt and Slitherpaw looked at each other again. "Well . . . I guess. . ." Ashpelt admitted.

"Then go get those!"

The two medicine cats dashed off. Lightningstar shook her head at the ground. Maybe she shouldn't have snapped at them, but leading a clan was exhausting.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Stormstar sat near the enterance of his den, looking out as the sun rose. He was waiting. Then he appeared. Bramblestar was standing there. It was weird to see him as a faded Starclan warrior when Stormstar had known him while he was alive. "Hello Bramblestar." He greeted.

Bramblestar gave him a small smile. "Hello Stormstar. Is your clan ready?"

Stormstar nodded. He walked out further. "All cats in Stormclan! Come out!" Everyone looked out. They already seemed to know what he was going to say though. He had only called for every single cat to tell them about the moving of the clans, so logically this meeting was to announce they were leaving. Stormstar said it anyway. "Bramblestar is here! We're leaving now." He climbed down, Bramblestar following.

Stormstar heard a gaps, he supposed that cat had never seen a Starclan cat before.

There were no words as they left camp. They went through Moonclan's territory in their journey, but no one was there. It wasn't until they came to Lightningclan, the clan being the farthest away from the lake, than they saw any other cats. Lightningclan and Moonclan were there. "Well, good to see you're here. Now where are those lazy Fallenclan cats?"

Crowfeather snorted. "They're closer to this place than Stormclan."

Feathertail shrugged. "Maybe that's why. Tawnypelt's waiting a little longer because it won't take long to get here." She suggested.

Nightwind, who had been near Stormstar the whole time, whispered in his ear. "Does Crowfeather look, embarrassed?"

Stormstar looked up and noticed he did indeed. _Weird. _He thought. "Yeah. I guess." He agreed.

Before they could talk anymore Fallenstar showed up with his clan. "Sorry we're late." He said.

"Even Stormclan beat you." Lightningstar pointed out. It was a little annoying actually.

"Well I'm sorry," Fallenstar apologized. He sounded more frustrated than sorry, "I have a big clan to manage."

"Can we just get started?" Tawnypelt asked.

Bramblestar nodded, looking at the sky. "We've lost enough time just trying to get all the clans here, we shouldn't waste anymore day light."

So everyone took off. The Starclan cats took the lead with the current leaders a little ways behind them. After that the cats kind of merged, though the deputies seemed to be trying to get close to the front.

Stormstar heard the Moonclan deputy, Blueblaze, having a conversation with his apprentice. "Smokepaw, what is it?"

"Nothing." The blind cat shook his head. "I thought I heard something, but it was probably just some animal."

Blueblaze still looked back. For a second, it seemed like he wasn't going to turn around. "Blueblaze? What's wrong?" Smokepaw asked. He gave a little gasp, "Is someone there?!"

Blueblaze was snapped out of it, and turned to his apprentice. "No. Let's go."

Death Trap was hunting in Fallenclan's territory. Of course, she wasn't supposed to, but what did she care? Prey was scarce, this would her fed and leave less for Fallenclan at the same time.

She gave a soft snort. _I hate other cats so much, yet I'll be creating more. _It enraged her to think she would have kits, but there wasn't much she could do. Except maybe starve herself to the point that they died, but she'd prefer not to put herself through that.

Then she heard the sound of movement. A lot of movement, and probably Fallenclan. _Brilliant. _She thought irritably. _There goes the prey for today. Maybe I can steal from Moonclan instead, get some revenge on Dragonflame._

Death Trap scampered away, hiding under some twoleg rubble. She peered out. At first she thought it was just a large patrol, but this was way too big for that. It looked like . . . the entire clan. _Alright, what's going on? _She wondered.

Waiting for the clan to get a safe distance away, she climbed out of the rubble and followed them, using their scent. They were moving slowly, the clan was so big they had to. They reached the border and kept going. Then the other three clans came into sight, and like Fallenclan it looked like the entire clans were there. And there were four sparkly cats. Starclan, she was pretty sure they were called.

Death Trap crouched down, sitting at a position the wind blew the conversation towards her. _So, _she thought as she heard them talk, _the clans are leaving. Well then, I think I'll tag along. _

So as the clans began walking away, Death Trap crawled after them, walking like she was stalking prey. Then she stepped on a twig. She froze and looked up. For a second a Moonclan apprentice without eyes turned around. She tensed, worried she'd get caught, but even though the apprentice and warrior looked back, neither of them saw her.

(You know how sometimes there are moments when people are told not to look back or they'll want to stay? Yeah, that's what happened with Blueblaze in this chapter.)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Eclipsepelt padded next to Dragonflame. It was weird to be leaving the lake, but overall he hadn't spent a lot of his life there. _I wonder if Dragonflame did. _He thought. Truth be told, he didn't know much about his mate. He wasn't one to ask questions though. And when he had to answer questions he usually kept his answers as short as possible.

Eclipsepelt put his tail on Dragonflame's stomach. "You alright?" he asked, looking at her with concern and love.

Dragonflame nodded. "I'm fine."

"The kits?"

Dragonflame looked down, as if trying to see her kits before they were born. "Yes. They're fine." She replied.

Eclipsepelt smiled and nodded. His gaze flicked away from his mate, and he saw his sister Moonstar. She smiled supportively when she his gaze. But . . . he thought he saw sorrow in her eyes. _Well of course. _He thought. _She's lost as much as I have._

Eclipsepelt walked over. "Hey." He greeted.

Moonstar turned to him. "Did you just start a conversation?" she asked teasingly. "That's new." Eclipsepelt made a snort like laugh. For a while they walked in silence. It was Moonstar, of course, who broke the silence. "I think you're kits will be wonderful."

Eclipsepelt nodded. "Something wrong?" he wanted to know. He was pretty sure he'd heard pain in her voice as she spoke.

"It's nothing." Moonstar didn't end with that statement for very long. "It's just, you have a mate, and soon you'll have kits. And I feel kind of. . ." she looked away. "Alone."

Eclipsepelt put his tail on her back. "You're not."

Moonstar looked at him for a while. "Thanks." She said softly.

Eclipsepelt nodded. "You'll find a mate too."

They might have talked a little longer, but at that moment Smokepaw ran up. "Moonstar, I smell something following us." He said. He lowered his voice, but they both heard the panic in it. "I think it's a dark one!"

Moonstar's eyes went wide. She stopped and sniffed. "He's right. Crowfeather!" she probably called to him because Windclan was the one to choose her as leader. "There are dark ones following us!"

"How is that possible?" Nightwind asked. "They're gone."

Moonstar shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm not wrong."

"No, she's not." Bramblestar agreed. "Cirlcle up!" he ordered. "Keep kits, queens, and medicine cats in the center."

They did so, the leaders all watched for dark ones, ready to attack. One launched out at Stormstar. He leapt out of the way and bit into its tail as it landed. But the rest of the leaders weren't attacking. It was probably out of surprise. This dark one didn't look like a cat. It looked like something else. A little like a dog.

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Lightningstar demanded. "Attack!" She jumped into the air. The dark one saw her coming and smacked her down. That gave Fallenstar an opening to get onto the dark one and rip at its head.

For a while they fought, then something came to help them. Whatever the new creature were, they killed most of the dark ones, the rest took off running. Then the creatures circled around them. They were wolves.

Well, all of them were wolves but one. A cat walked out of their midst. She had a black pelt and strange purple eyes.

Nightwind panted. "I don't get it. I thought we killed the dark ones off."

The cat with purple eyes burst out laughing. One of the wolves growled. She growled back. _They're talking. _Eclipsepelt realized.

Lightningstar snarled. "What's so funny?" she hissed.

The purple eyed cat stopped laughing. "What's funny, is that you think you can get rid of the dark ones that easily. They come in all sorts of forms. So, even if you did kill all the cat dark ones, which is unlikely, you'd have a lot more work to stop the others."

The wolves by this time had stopped laughing. Stormstar looked around. "Uh . . . are you going to let us go now?"

The purple eyed get laughed again. "You really are funny." She got closer and looked at them with hate. Her eyes seemed more like the wolves than a cat's. _That's because she belongs with the wolves. _Eclipsepelt thought. The cat continued. "The wolves are hungry, they're going to eat you."

"Never!" Wingshadow hissed. She prepared to jump, but Lightningstar put her paw on her to keep her down.

"We might be able to get out of this without a fight." Fallenstar said. He turned to address the cat. "You realize we're going to fight to live. No matter who wins that battle, we're both going to lose members of our groups. It would be better if you left and got food someplace else."

The cat's eyes narrowed. She clearly didn't like Fallenstar speaking like this. But apparently she didn't have a counter argument because she translated for the wolves. The wolves didn't like this logic either. Probably because they didn't have an argument either. With all four clans there it would be no easy fight to kill them. A particularly big wolf said something to the cat with purple eyes. She turned to them in disgust. "Fine." She sneered. "We'll let you go this time. But we better not cross paths again."

"That will make me a very happy cat indeed." Lightningstar muttered.

The wolves and their cat slowly backed off, soon turning around and running off, some of them howling.

Stormstar let out a breath. "Let's get out of here."

Bramblestar nodded. "Good idea."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Stormstar wasn't sure what woke him up. All he knew was that at one moment he was sleeping peacefully in the woods they'd decided to rest at, at the next he was wide awake. Curious, he got up and walked quietly away from the other cats. He didn't want to wake them up.

He came to a part of the forest he could see through the trees for a good distance. What he saw made his breath catch. There were huge mountains towering ahead. They were an amazing, and partly overwhelming, sight.

"Nice aren't they."

Stormstar gave a little jump. He spun to see the talker. It was the cat with purple eyes from earlier. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

She chuckled, amused to Stormstar's fear most likely. "My name's Violet. And you?"

"Stormstar." He didn't trust her. That was no surprise really.

Violet must have picked up on it too. "Don't worry, I'm not here with the other wolves to eat you." Her bluntness shocked Stormstar a bit. She carried on. "The rest of the wolves are up in the mountain. Speaking of, you might not want to go into the mountains. I don't know where you're going, but it won't be easy to avoid us up there."

Stormstar scowled. "We're not afraid of you." He said in a low voice.

Violet shrugged, he doubted she believed him. "Suite yourself." Then she jumped off and started walking towards the mountains.

Stormstar watched her for a little, then she turned around and went back to the other cats. He curled up and was almost asleep when the thought entered his mind. _Was she the one who woke me up?_

* * *

Fallenstar woke with a yawn. "Fallenstar?" Fallenstar looked down. There was Emeraldpaw. "I'm hungry." She whined.

_We all are. _He thought. The lack of prey had taken its toll on the cats. He looked down and Emerald, watching her more closely. Her ribs could be seen when she breathed out. He nodded. "We should hunt." He got up. "Fallenclan!" he called.

The cats already awake walked over and the ones that weren't woke up and looked at him sleepily. "It's time to hunt." He announced. "Anyone who can, do so. We've got to feed our entire clan while we travel." Then he walked off, sniffing for prey.

He was tracking a vole when he saw the mountains. Fallenstar's jaw dropped. _Oh my. _He thought. Forgetting the vole, he walked towards the mountain. Looking around the base, he saw there was a cave.

Fallenstar crept in quietly. If someone, or something, lived in here, he didn't really want to wake it up. That plan didn't go so well. He looked up and saw lots of little red eyes. He let out a scream in surprise, and if he was honest fear. His experience with red eyed creatures wasn't good after all.

The creatures with the red eyes all leapt off the top of the cave and flew towards him. Fallenstar ran out of the cave with the creatures following him. One got closer and he smacked it aside with his paw. He'd killed it. The other creatures took off after that.

Fallenstar went closer to the creature he'd killed. It wasn't a dark one, that was comforting. _So what is it? _He thought.

There was a gasp nearby. Fallenstar turned around. Fangmouth was standing there, staring at the mountain. "Oh my." He managed.

Fallenstar nodded. "Yes, they are something."

Then he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. There were ten cats walked towards the mountain, three of the younger ones had the same look of awe that Fangmouth had had. He found it odd the cats didn't seem to notice them. He looked at the ten. Some of them seemed familiar. Then he realized something. Their mouths were moving, but no sound was coming out.

_Oh of course. _He thought. _I'm seeing the past again. No wonder they look familiar, they're in Starclan. _He had the ability to see things from the past, always about other cats, and always distracting. That was part of the reason he'd wanted his territory to be in the old twoleg place. There were less things to see.

"Fallenstar?" Fangmouth called.

Fallenstar snapped out of it. "Yes?"

Fangmouth had a concerned look in his eyes, probably worried that his leader was staring at nothing. "You alright?"

Fallenstar nodded. "Fine." He looked at the creature he'd killed earlier. "You think this is safe to eat?"

Fangmouth peered over. "The bat?" He shrugged. "Sure."

_So that's what this is. Good to know. _"Alright. Then I think it's time to get back." He picked up his bat and walked back towards where the others were.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Stormstar walked up to Bramblestar as the rest of his clan ate. "Bramblestar, do we have to go through the mountains to go to the old territory?"

Bramblestar blinked, looking at him surprised. Stormstar supposed it was because they hadn't reached the mountains yet. "I was planning to. Why?"

"We can't go that way. The wolves live there." Stormstar explained.

Bramblestar sighed. Then Crowfeather walked over. "Well for once, I agree. I've had enough of the mountains to last for the rest of time."

"There is another way." Bramblestar said. "And it might be easier to use that route now that the twolegs are gone."

Stormstar nodded. "Then I think it's best we go that way."

So when everyone was finished eating they got up and started heading away from the mountains. Well, not really away, they were sort of paralleling them, but they weren't getting any closer so Stormstar was satisfied.

For a while their trek was uneventful. Then the Starclan cats abruptly stopped. "Well that wasn't here last time." Bramblestar said with an amazingly casual tone. Sitting in front of them was a huge wall made of red blocks.

"None of us have been here in a long time." Feathertail pointed out.

"So, what do we do now?" Moonstar asked.

"There's always some sort of door on these walls for the two legs to get in." Fallenstar explained. "We just have to find that."

"Right." Bramblestar mumbled. He turned and started walking around the wall, going further away from the mountains.

Stormstar looked at the Starclan warriors. Something seemed off. They seemed more . . . faded. _Why? _He wondered. If anything they should seem more solid, they were being remembered more now.

The cats turned the corner, and sure enough, there was enterance. It was a metal gate with little spaces between the bars. Lightningstar gave an amused snort. "I hope none of us have gained a little weight."

"We've been struggling to get enough food," Sliverstripes reminded her. Her tone was cold. "I don't think that's going to be a problem."

Lightningstar made a face. She jumped through the bars. Stormstar sighed and followed. The other leaders did so too. The Starclan cats seemed to just walk through as if the gate wasn't there. Considering their transparent look, Stormstar wasn't surprised by this.

"Which way through?" he asked. The Starclan cats frowned. "What? Bramblestar, what is it?"

It wasn't Bramblestar who answered. It was Tawnypelt. "We don't know. We got through this place with help last time."

"If you want to call it that." Crowfeather muttered under his breath.

"Right. . ." Stormstar muttered, thinking.

"Couldn't we split up?" Moonstar suggested. "Look for a way out that way?"

"Fallenclan! This way!" Fallenstar led his warriors away.

"Alright Moonclan, let's go." Moonstar said, leading them away too. she sounded kind of tired. Lightningstar walked off too.

"Is this a good idea?" Stormstar asked the Starclan cats.

Bramblestar shrugged. "It's probably better than all of you going through together."

"Wait, all of 'you'?" Nightwind questioned. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"We will." Tawnypelt assured her.

"But right now we can't be of any help to you." Feathertail explained. With that, the Starclan warriors faded out.

"Well Stormstar, what are we going to do?" Nightwind asked.

Stormstar looked around. The other clans had left by now. But none of them had taken the most obvious option, follow the thunderpath. Odds were something that size had to let out somewhere. Then he looked up at the sun. It had been setting as they entered, and now he couldn't even really see it. It was still probably visible on the other side of the wall, but it was still getting late.

"We're going to get some sleep."

Some of the cats seemed confused by that decision, but they all seemed grateful.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Stormstar awoke with a strange scent in his nose. For a moment he wondered if Violet had something to do with this. He quickly realized that wasn't true, because now he recognized the scent. "Everybody up!" He shouted just as dogs came bursting out at them.

One came dangerously close to Emberpaw, who froze. Stormstar jumped onto it, grabbing at its ear to try to make it change course. That didn't exactly work, but it made the dog more interested in getting Stormstar off its back than attacking Emberpaw. She launched herself at its feet while Stormstar dug his teeth in on its back.

As the dog spun around, Stormstar almost thought he saw Violet attack a nearby dog, but that soon left his sight and he suspected he'd imagined it.

It turned out, the feet were far less safe. The dog kicked Emberpaw away, she hit the ground and bounced back into the air, spinning for a moment before coming to a stop. Stormstar stopped when he saw that. Could a cat survive that? Then the dog knocked him off, taking advantage of his shock. He saw its paws coming towards him. _Wait for it. . . _He told himself, resisting the urge to run. The dog drew closer, bringing down its jaws to kill. Stormstar's eyes widened, but he leapt up, clawing through the dog as he went. The dog let out a howl of pain and ran.

Stormstar looked around. The other cats had faired rather well too, and the dogs were leaving. But there were an unpleasant number of wounded cats. "Stormstar, your hurt." His medicine cat observed.

Stormstar blinked and looked down. It was true, he was bleeding, shallowly. He waved his tail dismissively. "It's not bad. The other cats need herbs more. Go see if you can find some."

Angelwing nodded, then dashed off. Stormstar walked over to Emberpaw and looked down. She was panting, but she didn't seem to have any serious wounds. Her eyes opened when he came over, and she looked up at him. "Stormstar. . ." she started. Her voice came out weakly.

"Shh." Stormstar stopped her. "You just rest."

He turned away, walking back to the rest of his clan. Some of them were hurt too, but he was relieved to see no one was badly hurt. Shatterpoint spoke as he passed him. "Stormstar, this journey isn't going well."

"Not right now." Stormstar said.

Shatterpoint continued before he could say anything more. "Not since we started. I know we can't go back, but there was lots of prey in that forest near here. And Fallenclan could be happy around here." He waved his tail around the old two leg place. "Why not stay here?"

Stormstar glowered. He spoke calmly. "Starclan believes we should go to the old territories, and I am not going to go against their wishes. Besides, there are wolves and dark ones who live near here. I'd prefer not to run into them." With a flick of his tail, he walked away.

* * *

Moonstar led her clan through the confusing two leg place. She hopped on a fence and looked around, hoping to find a way out. She should've known that was too easy. She'd have to be a lot higher up to see a way out.

She sighed and looked down. _What's wrong with me? _Moonstar wondered. _I feel so . . . tired, lately._

"Moonstar!" Smokepaw called. She turned towards him. He couldn't see her movement, but he continued anyway. "I smell other cats!"

No sooner had he said it, then a group of cats jumped out at them and started attacking. Moonstar jumped back off the fence and towards one of the cats. The fall was jarring, it might've cost her a life if she hadn't smashed into the cat. Looking down she saw the cat seemed to be okay, just dazed.

Then she looked up and around her. Blueblaze was ripping his claws through an already defeated cat. Moonstar frowned. Warriors didn't have to kill to prove their victory. Blueblaze was her deputy, but she was more violent than she would've liked.

Dragonflame and Eclipsepelt meanwhile, seemed to be having a bit of a challenge, and were working together to fight their cat.

Snowpaw and Smokepaw were working together to fight a cat too. But they were both apprentices, and Smokepaw was blind. Moonstar ran towards them to help. Another cat burst in front of her and slammed her into the ground. He jumped at her, but she kicked him off. He slid into the ground, and Moonstar spun around, grabbing his ear, keeping him in place.

"Okay hold up!" Moonstar looked up curiously at the new voice. Standing up on top of the fence she'd been on earlier, was a brown she-cat with old wounds all over her pelt, including a scar going through her eye. She tilted her head curiously. Moonstar noticed she smelled a lot like the cat she was fighting. "I'm am Scar!" the introduced. "I am second in command in the Twilight rouges. Who are you?"

Moonstar let go of the cat so she could speak, but she still kept a paw on his neck. "I'm am Moonstar, leader of Moonclan."

Scar gazed at her with an impassive expression. For some reason, it gave Moonstar chills. Scar spoke, "I'm afraid this is a terrible mistake on our part then." She rose her voice to talk to everyone. "Twilight cats! This, Moonclan, they were now our guests! I suggest we take them back to Sour." She climbed down the fence and started walking away. The rest of the 'Twilight cats' followed. She turned around, looking at Moonstar. "Well, are you coming?" she asked.

Moonstar looked at the cats around her. "Alright." She got up and followed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Fallenstar looked around once he was out of sight. The other clans would probably end up wandering around the twoleg place for days without having a clue where to go. In fact, for a moment he considering going back to help them. But he quickly shook the thought away. He would help his clan.

He knew how to find his way around twoleg places. "I'll be right back." He said, flicking his tail. Then he got up and starting climbing the twoleg building. On the way up he saw some other cats trying to find their way out, but they were going the other direction. And the oldest one, in the lead, was talking but no sound was coming out. It was obvious he was just seeing something that had already happened.

Ignoring it, he kept climbing. He smiled in satisfaction when he reached the top. It was high enough for him to see most of the twoleg place and, most importantly, the exit.

"Fallenstar!" Fangmouth called, bringing his attention back to the ground. "I hear dogs!"

Fallenstar zapped his head. Sure enough, he could see fairly large creatures that were most likely dogs coming. "Hide in the twoleg place!" He ordered. He wasn't in the mood to fight dogs. Out hear that could be dangerous.

The clan started scrambling into the twoleg place. Some of them spun around and ran into the twoleg place on the other side of thunderpath. _Smart of them. _Fallenstar thought. Then he jumped through a hole in the roof he was standing on, and made his way towards the cats here.

There was a scream. Fallenstar jumped a little. "What happened?" he wanted to know, coming down.

"Emeraldpaw stepped on these sharp things." Fangmouth explained. He prodded one of those things lightly. _Glass. _Fallenstar thought simply.

"Sliverstripes, do we have anything to heal her with?" Fallenstar asked.

Sliverstripes shook her head. "I didn't know how long this journey would be, or what we'd encounter. I couldn't bring any herbs."

Fallenstar nodded. "Well that's fine, but we have to get something for Emeraldpaw's foot. So see if you can find any herbs nearby."

Sliverstripes nodded. "Yes Fallenstar." She turned around and walked out.

There was something off about her lately. But he couldn't place it. . .

Before he had the chance to think any more of it, raised voices came from outside. Fallenstar jumped out the window the glass had originally been from. Outside was Sliverstripes, and Angelwing. "Look, _I _found these herbs. You're just going to have to get your own!" Angelwing snapped.

Fallenstar's ears went down. He didn't like Stormclan. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked tightly.

"Angelwing is stealing the herbs!" Sliverstripes quickly told him.

Angelwing bristled. "Stealing? I found these herbs." She put her paw in front of the small amount of herbs. "And we got attacked by dogs, we need these herbs more than your clumsy apprentice."

Fallenstar felt his fur rising. He dropped a little lower, sort of in an attack position. "There aren't enough herbs here to help all your cats, but we can help our apprentice. It'll be less wasteful."

Angelwing blinked at him. She shot out, grabbing the herbs, and pulled back. "Fine, but you'll have to catch me." She said through the herbs. Then she took off running.

For a medicine cat, she was fast. Fallenstar took off after her. But after she made a fast turn and came screeching to a hault, he decided it wasn't worth it. With a shake of his head, he headed back towards his clan.

* * *

Moonstar entered the twoleg place. A long hall stretched out before them, with cats milling around it. At the end of the hall, on some stairs, sat a brown pelted muscular cat, eating at some prey. Most of the cats had brown pelts actually.

"Sour!" Scar called.

The cat on the stairs looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Moonstar and the other Moonclan cats who had entered. "Scar, what is this?" he asked.

"These cats are a group called Moonclan. At this is Moonstar, their leader." Scar explained. "I think they should be our guests."

Sour nodded thoughtfully. "Yes . . . agreed." He turned to one of the few cats with a black pelt. "Midnight! Get these cats some food!"

Moonstar's eyes widened. _Midnight. _It wasn't her sister, she knew it wasn't her sister. But this cat _looked _like Midnight, and shared the name. Moonstar staggered back at the memories. "Moonstar, are you alright?" Blueblaze asked, looking at her with concerned eyes.

Moonstar sucked in some air and stood a little straighter. "Yes. Yes I'm fine." She glanced back at Eclipsepelt to make sure he was fine. Sure enough, he'd noticed it too. Dragonflame was comforting him though. Moonstar faced forward again, confident Dragonflame could handle her brother, and walked forward.

"You can stay here." Scar instructed in that netural voice of hers, flicking her tail at a fairly roomy corner.

Moonstar nodded. "Thank you." She walked over and sat down.

Midnight brought some prey over and everyone started eating. Moonstar could feel someone watching her. She lifted her gaze. Sour was there, gazing at her curiously. Moonstar tried to turn away, but she could still feel his look. She turned back to him. "What?" she asked curiously.

Sour shook his head. "Nothing. It's just. . ." he stopped and started a new sentence. "So, you're the leader?"

Moonstar nodded. "Yes." She said.

"You don't seem like leader material if you don't mind saying." He commented.

_I do mind actually. _She thought. She didn't say it. "What's wrong with me?"

"You just seem . . . tired."

The irony that she'd been thinking the same thing earlier that day didn't escape her. "I can handle my cats fine." She said.

"She's gotten us this far." Smokepaw added.

Moonstar blinked. She hadn't realized he'd noticed the conversation. But of course he had, he had better hearing than anyone else in the clan. Sour nodded. "I don't doubt your abilities," _You just said you did. _Moonstar thought. Once again, she didn't say anything. "But I am curious about you being tired."

Moonstar sighed and looked off in the distance. "It's tiring to lead a clan." She told him. "I have to take care of all that cats."

Sour nodded understandingly. "You don't want any of them to get hurt. You'd feel it your fault if anything happened to them."

Once again, Moonstar was surprised. Sour hadn't seemed like the type to understand this sort of thing. She turned to say something to him, but he'd vanished.

When Moonstar turned back to her prey, there was another cat there. "Take me with you." He said softly.

"What?" Moonstar asked.

"When you leave, take me with you. I hate it here."

Before Moonstar could ask why he hated it, Midnight looked up. "Fade! What are you doing?" she called.

The cat, Moonstar assumed he was Fade, made a face. "Nothing!" He called. He walked off towards her.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Lightningstar led her cats through the old thunderpaths. "Get some rest." She ordered. It was getting late, they would need rest.

She kept staring ahead, but she could hear everyone trying to find the best to place to sleep, curling up, snoring a bit. She flicked her ear. She didn't like this plan of Moonstar. None of them knew the way out of the two leg place, how would splitting up help with that?

Then she heard something. Blinking, Lightningstar turned towards the sound. It was coming from a hole in the thunderpath. She flashed her gaze to her clan-mates. They all seemed asleep.

So Lightningstar climbed down the hole. She was careful where she put her paws, the ground was wet and she wasn't in the mood to lose a life by slipping. It was hard to tell, because there were a lot of scents down here most of them nasty, but she was pretty sure she could smell cats in here.

Then Lightningstar walked around the corner. There was snake. It flashed it head to her. Lightningstar froze. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it was foolish to be afraid of a snake. Snakes were small, and even if they killed her she'd just come back. But snakes had this way of terrifying other creatures by making eye contact, and Lightningstar had fallen into the trap.

She took a slow step back. The snake lashed out. Lightningstar jumped to the side, slamming her shoulder into the slopped wall. The snake coiled back around, it could turn with much greater speed than herself.

"Lightningstar!"

The snake spun towards the voice. Without hesitating Lightningstar lashed out herself, and killed the snake. Then she rose her head, looking at the cat. "Sorrowpaw, what are you doing here?"

Sorrowpaw seemed to be shaking. "I . . . uh, saw you come down here."

Lightningstar nodded. She should've known not all the clan was asleep. In this case, she supposed that was a good thing. "Thank you Sorrowpaw." She flicked her tail and turned away, back to following the scent.

Sorrowpaw didn't ask where she was going. Lightningstar wasn't sure what she'd say if she had.

* * *

Stormstar looked up. He grew alarmed when he saw Angelwing was running. "Angelwing, what's wrong?"

She set the herbs she was holding, not much unfortunately, panting. "I ran into Fallenclan. They wanted the same herbs."

Stormstar shook his head. "Well it doesn't matter now." He gave her a nod. "Just try to heal the cats you can."

Angelwing nodded and set to work. This set back Stormstar's travel plans a bit, even when Angelwing had finished Stormstar let everyone rest a bit.

When they could go, Stormstar started the traveling up again. For a while they walked on the thunderpath without incident. Then Emberpaw let out a yell. "Monster!" She dove under a bush that was actually growing on the thunderpath.

Stormstar turned his head, watching her bound into hiding. Nightwind nodded. "She's right. Stormstar, look!"

Stormstar turned. There was a monster sitting in the middle of thunderpath. For a second, he was afraid. He crouched closer to the ground. Then he realized something was off. He stood a little taller, then smirked. "Don't worry, it's not moving." He walked closer. His clan followed, some more tentatively than others. The monster had plants growing on it and most of its original color was gone. "And considering how this looks, I don't think it's moved in a while." He added.

Nightwind nodded. Then Shatterpoint, who had jumped onto the top, pressed his nose to the glass. It broke. He leapt back as glass came flying at him. Then something else came flying at him too. Emberpaw screamed again. Stormstar's eyes widened as he watched. He had to admit, it was unnerving. It was a twoleg. But they had been dead for a while, and were mostly bones.

"But let's get out of here." He decided.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Emberpaw said. She dashed away. The rest of the clan followed.

Stormstar flicked his gaze towards Shatterpoint, this wouldn't improve his opinion of the quest. He didn't have to worry yet. Shatterpoint still seemed shaken by his experience.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

(Since it's kind of hard to make this clear, I'll explain most of the battle takes in an auditorium.)

Smokepaw's eyes snapped open. Well, that was what it felt like, he didn't have eyes to open. He had been having a bad dream, but he couldn't remember it anymore.

Then he heard voices. Smokepaw's ears pricked up. He spun his head towards them, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. That's when he noticed something. Snowpaw was missing.

Smokepaw got up and stalked quietly towards the voices. He felt himself walk through a doorway, and he could tell the voices were above him now. A long way above him. He turned his head up.

"And so, with this sacrifice, we will see the morning!" Sour was shouting.

Snowpaw screamed. Smokepaw's non existant eyes widened. "No!" He shouted.

That was a mistake. All the cats turned towards him. "After him!" Sour cried.

Smokepaw heard the cats running, it sounded like they were running on metal. Luckily for him, it would take them a while to get down. He dashed away. He heard cats bounding after him. "Help!" he cried.

There was shifting as the cats back in the main room. Then Moonstar slammed into a cat above Smokepaw. He hadn't even noticed there was a cat above him. Hissing at his own ignorance he dashed off to find a cat to fight.

* * *

Sour fell onto the ground with Moonstar on top of him. But that wouldn't last long. Moonstar knew he was stronger than her. As he drew his feet back to kick her, she jumped off. Then she kicked his face as she ran by, and he was too off balance from his attempt at kicking to do anything about it.

Moonstar landed in a different room. This one was a lot bigger, and had a small metal walkway near the top. But that wasn't Moonstar's focus. Her focus was on Snowpaw. She was lying on the ground in an impossible position, giving away the fact that she was dead.

In her distracted state, Sour pounced on her. "Most unfortunate you had to find out about this." He growled. "I would've prefered to keep our meeting nonviolent."

Moonstar hissed. She flipped her head up and bit his neck. She tore down, taking his fur and making him bleed. "Funny then, that you started the violence!" she spat.

Sour looked at her neutrally. Considering what she'd just done that was creepy. "You don't understand." Then he swung his unsheathed claw at her face. She went flying back and slammed her head into a wall. Moonstar got back up, swaying a little. It was hard to focus as Sour came dashing in. Moonstar lowered herself closer to the ground, then sprang up, landing on top of Sour. She dug her claws in and grabbed his ear to stay on.

Sour swung around violently, and even leapt up on his hind legs for a moment. But Moonstar stayed firmly attached. Then he seemed to get an idea. He ran towards another wall. _Oh no. _Moonstar thought. She knew what was going to happen. They slammed into the wall, but Moonstar took all the impact.

Dizzy once again, she fell off Sour. He sneered. "I knew you weren't leader material." Then he slashed her neck deeply.

For a second, Moonstar was dead. Then she sucked in air again. She looked up at Sour. He'd turned away, he thought she was dead. She jumped up and over him, clawing his back as she went. Once on the ground, she whirled around. Sour stared in disbelief. "Wha-But, how?"

Moonstar walked closer. "I knew you weren't leader material." She snarled. Then she ripped her claws through his neck, killing him.

Sour crumpled onto the floor.

* * *

Smokepaw felt the paw smack his check. He rolled across the ground a little before digging his claws into the rug to stop from moving.

He sniffed. He had to figure out who'd attacked him and fast. He knew it couldn't' have been the cat he'd been fighting, that cat had broken a paw. Then he recognized the scent. Scar. _Oh no. _He thought.

Smokepaw jumped up and ran just as Scar reached him again. She dashed after him. "You can't escape you know." She sneered.

Smokepaw slipped through a small hole in the wall. He'd hoped it would be too small for Scar to follow. He was wrong. Scar squeezed through the whole, making a scraping sound as she got in. Smokepaw clawed her as she struggled to get through, aiming for the scar on her eye. Judging by her scream he'd hit his mark.

Then she yanked herself the rest of the way through stuck her claws into his chest. He turned around and ran. Smokepaw noticed he was running up. Then he felt metal and realized where he was.

Behind him, Scar purred. "Ah this makes things considerably easier." She cooed.

Smokepaw turned around, glaring. "Not if I can help it." He snarled.

"You can't." she told him. She lunged at him. He jumped. He was intending to land on Scar, but he over shot it. And then he was falling. Falling down the same way Snowpaw had.

He screamed, then a cat grabbed him. He sniffed. It was the scent of the Twilight cats.

"Fade." That was Moonstar's surprised voice.

Fade set Smokepaw down. "Will you take me with you know?" he asked.

"Scar." Smokepaw panted.

Moonstar looked up. "She's gone."

Fade growled. "And knowing her, she'll be back."

Moonstar nodded, sighing. Smokepaw noticed she did that every time she was tired. "Alright Fade, you can come with us. Let's go make sure everyone is alright." She walked out with the other two following.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

(I've come to the conclusion that even though everyone, including myself, doesn't like it when I make short chapters, there's a certain disadvantage to long chapters. I always get tired of writing when I reach the end of the chapter, makes for rushed endings.)

Death Trap stalked prey, some rather risky prey to deal with. She was going after an owl. She could tell from the scent. But with how fast the clans were traveling she wasn't too picky about what she was eating.

Death Trap launched out of the bushes. The owl spun its head around, but it wasn't fast enough. She pounced on it. It clawed at her, but she dug her claws into its neck, killing it. Then she tilted her head. She'd been so busy killing the owl, she didn't notice what it looked like. She noticed now. _Is this thing . . . blue? Will that make it safe to eat?_

Death Trap didn't have any more time to wonder. She heard someone coming. Grabbing the blue owl, she dashed up into a tree.

A brown cat with green impassive eyes wandered into the spot she'd been just a few moments ago. The brown cat, who Death Trap now noticed had some nasty wounds on her, was completely oblivious to Death Trap's presence.

Death Trap might've let her go, but at that moment she got an idea. She climbed down. The cat heard her doing so, and spun around. "I don't mean you any harm." Death Trap said. "I was just wondering if you'd like to share my kill with me." She tossed the blue owl down. "I couldn't possible eat all this myself."

The cat titled her head, but there was still no emotion in her eyes. "Is that owl blue?"

Death Trap nodded. "Apparently."

The cat sighed. "Why not?" she went over and took a bite. She didn't die.

Death Trap knew poison could take a little longer to take effect, but if she didn't eat she'd look suspicious. Plus, if it was poisoned, at least she'd take this cat and her kits down with her. So she sat down and took a bite. It tasted like a normal owl would.

For a while the two ate in silence. Death Trap was the first to break it. "My name's Trap by the way."

The other cat looked up. "I'm Scar."

_Well named. _Death Trap thought. She knew better than to say it outloud.

* * *

Autumnpelt, Twinklepaw, and Redspirit walked through the abandoned twoleg place. Autumnpelt was showing Twinklepaw around, and since Redspirit was knew, it had seemed like a good idea to bring her along.

Autumnpelt came to a stop near the forest. Of course the twoleg place looked a little like the forest now, but there was still an obvious difference. At first Twinklepaw didn't notice and she had to put her tail in front of her to stop her. Twinklepaw looked up at her with her unnaturally big eyes, that really did seem to twinkle. "What is it?"

"This is the border." Autumnpelt explained. "We can't go any farther."

"Why?" Autumnpelt turned around to face Redspirit, who'd asked the question. Redspirit shrugged. "As far as I know, this is the only clan. Who's going to be upset if we cross it?"

"Starclan is." Autumnpelt replied. "They made the warrior code all warriors must follow, and it says not to cross the border. They have these rules for a reason."

"Well yes. . ." Redspirit said, but she didn't seem entirely convinced. "But, these rules were made a long time ago. They might not all apply to us anymore."

Normally Autumnpelt would've been upset by this statement, but Redspirit had a point. One rule was to reject the soft life of a kittypet. There were no twolegs anymore, which meant no kittypets, which meant they could pretty much forget about that rule.

But the border rule still applied, and she'd have to make that clear. Especially with Twinklepaw right there, soaking up all the information.

Autumnpelt got up. "Look, this rule is still important. There are dangers in the forest, my sister lost her first life to a bear. And then there's the rouges. They for the most part stay away from the border, they know they'll lose to us while we're here. But if we leave the territory. . ."

Redspirit had started looking guilty at the mention of the rouges. She dropped her head. "You're right. Forgive me."

Autumnpelt nodded, softening her look. "It's okay. You're new, you're bound to have questions. But we should probably go hunting." She added jokingly, "Springstar will have our pelts on the wall if we come back without anything."

Twinklepaw's eyes widened in terror. "But I don't know anything about hunting."

"I wasn't serious." Autumnpelt told her. "And don't worry" She smiled, starting away, "I'll teach you everything you need to know."

Twinklepaw smiled too and trotted after her happily.

(The blue owl's a Guardian of Ga'hoole reference by the way. It takes place after humans are extinct too so. . .)


	14. Chapter 14

(Woo! Two chapters in one day.)

Chapter 14

Stormstar made it to the gate with his clan. Fallenstar was already there. "Hello Fallenstar." He greeted. He walked out and sat to the side of the gate, with Fallenclan on the other side.

Fallenstar gave a curt nod. "Stormstar." There was a short pause, Fallenstar flicked his gaze across Stormclan. "I'd ask if the herbs my clan needed helped all the cats in your clan, but from the looks of it, I'd say not."

Stormstar's fur bristled up a bit. "We needed those herbs more than you."

Angelwing and Sliverstripes looked at each other. "This seems familiar." Angelwing commented, talking about the conversation.

Sliverstripes nodded. She walked over to Fallenstar. "It doesn't matter anymore. We didn't need herbs badly, and with all the trees around," she waved her tail at the forest they were now standing in, "I'm sure both clans can find more."

Angelwing nodded. "Good idea." She walked away, looking for herbs.

Fallenstar's eyes narrowed for a second, but then he too nodded. "Yes. Forgive me Stormstar." He walked back to his clan.

Stormstar didn't say anything else, but he had a feeling this wasn't over.

* * *

The cat was so dark and so small Lightningstar almost didn't see him. In fact, she didn't notice he was there until she touched his paw. Then she gave a little jump back. "I'm sorry." She said.

The black cat, who had almost black eyes too, looked at her curiously. "Are you a clan cat?"

"Yes." Lightningstar said, feeling a little uncertain of this situation. "How do you know about clans?"

"We were told a clan cat would save us."

Lightningstar looked at the cat closer. If she thought the clans had been having trouble getting food before, it was nothing compared to this cat. She nodded. "Alright. I'll help you."

The cat gave a weak smile. "Thank you." He said. He turned around, giving a flick of his tail for her to follow. "I'm Screech by the way." He said. "I live with the Midnight cats."

"I'm Lightningstar. I'm leader of Lightningclan."

Screech turned around, still walking forward, and gave her an impressed look. "You're a leader? That's good." He nodded to himself.

Lightningstar strained to listen, he was so quiet, even when he talked, and he was so dark. It was hard to follow him. Then they came to a large opening a little below them. There were more cats here. Most of them had dark pelts like him, and all of them were as thin.

He jumped down. There was a splash. Lightningstar looked down. There were puddles on the ground. _And this is where they live? _She thought. _How have they survived this long? _

"I've found a clan cat." Screech announced. Despite his soft voice, all eyes turned to him. "Not only that, she's a leader."

"That's great!" One of them said. Lightningstar was relieved he was louder than Screech. It was ironic name really.

A bright orange cat got up. "I can give her some of our food. We caught some today."

"No!" Lightningstar snarled. The orange cat shot lower, her eyes wide in fear. Lightningstar softened up. "I'm not hungry. You eat."

"But. . ." the one from earlier started.

"No buts." Lightningstar cut him off.

The cats looked at each other uncertainly. One with pale eyes that seemed to glow came forward. "Well then, do you want to rest?" she asked.

Lightningstar didn't want to say yes, but she was tired. "Okay." She agreed with a sigh.

She curled up in one of the drier spots, getting ready to sleep. Most of the cats went away, leaving her alone. But as the bright one walked past her she put her tail on the cat. She turned and lowered herself. "I'm sorry about the prey. I just thought. . ."

Lightningstar shook her head. "I doesn't matter. I was just wondering, why do you all live in such a wet place?"

The cat gave a miserable look. "Between the Twilight cats above and the dark ones down here, there's not much space. That's why you're here I understand. You can help us with both."

Lightningstar nodded slowly. Then a sudden thought entered her mind. "Wait, the Twilight cats are above?"

The cat nodded. "My name's Twilight actually." She said. "But those cats are far worse than us. They make sacrifices every night."

Lightningstar's eyes widened. Her clan was still up there! She had to make sure they were alright. She bolted up. Cats turned. "I have to leave." She said.

"But, but you just got here." One of the cats said.

"I'll come back." Lightningstar told them. "But I need to go back up for a little."

Screech sighed. "I'll take her up." He got up and walked back to the exit. "Come on." He flicked his tail.

Lightningstar jumped up and followed him back into the dark.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

(Does anyone have something that happens in almost every warriors series? For example, I slipped the tribe in the last one of these stories because they've been in three out of four warrior series. And Sliverstripes and Fangmouth is a forbidden love. If anyone can think of a reoccurring pattern in the series let me now, so I can put it in this series.)

Fallenstar was aware someone was standing next to him. It was someone from Stormclan. He turned. It was Shatterpoint. "Can I help you?" Fallenstar asked neutrally.

"I just had a question." Shatterpoint told him.

That wasn't a surprise, there weren't a lot of other things he could possibly want. "Well what's the question?"

"What do you think of this journey?" Shatterpoint asked. That took Fallenstar by surprise. He looked at Shatterpoint curiously. Shatterpoint shrugged. "It just seems to me this trip isn't worth it. Of course, I've been wrong before. . ."

Fallenstar stopped listening. He was thinking. It was true. This trip had been overly stressful, and surely they didn't have to go _all _the way back to the old clan's territory. He nodded. "Yes. We've gone far enough."

Shatterpoint blinked. "Really? You think I'm right?"

Fallenstar nodded, then he got another thought. "Wait . . . why didn't you talk to your own leader about this?"

Shatterpoint looked embarrassed. "Oh, well you see . . . Stormstar doesn't agree." He looked at the ground. "He thinks we need to respect our warrior ancestors in Starclan."

Fallenstar gave an indignant sniff. "Stormstar likes to be right. Problem is if he's wrong he'll get us all killed."

Shatterpoint's head snapped up. "Are you suggesting my leader isn't a good one?" he asked.

Fallenstar narrowed his eyes. "Maybe. And if you disagree with him you are too."

Then Stormstar spoke up. Luckily, it didn't seem like he'd hear anything they'd said. "Hey guys, Moonclan's here."

* * *

Death Trap sat in the shadows watching cats, almost all with brown pelts, into the clearing. She flicked an ear. They couldn't see her yet.

Scar walked over to Death Trap. She turned to the other she cat. "Is this all of them?" Death Trap asked.

Scar nodded. "If there are any other Twilight cats left, they're hiding well."

Death Trap nodded. "Right. You might want to let me do that talking." She turned around and started towards the cats.

"Hold it." Scar said. She had about as much emotion in her voice as her eyes, but Death Trap could pick up just a hint of irritation.

Death Trap turned her head, but not the rest of her body, around. "Yes?"

"I was second in command of the Twilight cats. That means _I'm _in charge. I get to talk."

Death Trap tried not to bristle. Annoying cat. There was always someone to remind her why she hated all cats. But if she was going to try to attack the clans again, she'd need all the help she could get. Death Trap sighed. "Alright. Come on. But I'm still introducing myself, and explaining things a bit."

"If you like." Scar said.

There was something about that Death Trap didn't like, but she turned back and jumped onto a rock. Scar followed.

The Twilight cats noticed them now. "Scar, what's going on?" a tom asked.

"We have a new member among us." Scar said. She gave Death Trap a nod.

Death Trap turned and faced the cats. "I am Death Trap. And yes, I plan to join you. I also wish to help you with Moonclan." There were angry hisses and snarls. Death Trap raised her voice to be heard over them. "I have had reason to hate the cats before they were in clans. I have tried to fight them, and have done some damage, but I simply can't do it on my own."

"Hold it." Scar ordered. "Clans? Why plural?"

Death Trap blinked, pretending to be surprised. "You didn't know?" at everyone's blank expressions she continued. "There are four clans."

"What?" Scar asked in disbelief.

"How can we beat all four!?" The tom from earlier demanded.

"The clans fight amongst themselves. A lot of times all we have to do is plant a seed of uncertainty in their hearts, and they'll do the rest."

Scar's eyes narrowed. She seemed to be realizing how much power Death Trap was picking up. "Alright." She said. "Let's go find the clans. If we wait too long we'll be sure to lose them."

Death Trap nodded. "Agreed. I've been tracking the clans for a while. I'm sure I could-"

Scar cut her off. "Moonclan's scent is still fresh at our old home. We can track them from there."

"Fine." Death Trap said tightly.

Scar jumped off the rocks and started leading the Twilight cats away. This was going to be a tiring truce.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Lightningstar and Screech were walking back. Until interrupted that is. Screech stopped abruptly, his ears shooting up and his eyes getting wider.

"What is it?" Lightningstar asked.

Before Screech could answer, an huge paw hit Lightningstar's face. She went flying, and smashed into the wall. There was a sickening crack she had a feeling came from her head. She rolled out of the way as a big black paw came down towards her head again. But she had to pause before getting up. The world was spinning violently.

She smelled the scent of rotting meat and gasping breathes as the black creature came towards her again. It was a dark one. This time, with the spinning, Lightningstar didn't know if she could escape in time.

"Lightningstar!"

She heard the dark one turn around. It was a familiar situation, especially since the one who'd called out to her was Sorrowpaw.

Lightningstar got back up. Her head spun as she did so, but there wasn't time to regain her balance. She leapt into the air, aiming for top of the dark one. Her aim was horribly off, and this dark one was taller than she'd expected, so she went falling to the side.

The dark one charged towards Sorrowpaw. Luckily, its size made it fairly slow. Lightningstar zipped under it and clawed its legs. The dark one spun around and trundled after her.

Lightningstar stopped and leaned on the wall. Then she got an idea.

She waited until the last minute, then jumped out of the way. Her vision spun again, but Screech grabbed her in his jaws and held her steady. The dark one rammed into the wall.

Lightningstar gave a weak smile. "Ha! Two can play at that game!" she shouted at the dark one.

Then it started to shake. It was hard to see, but Lightningstar thought the dark one had its head stuck in the wall. That clearly wouldn't be the case much longer though.

Sorrowpaw backed up, getting closer to Lightningstar and Screech. "We need to get out of here." She said.

"This way!" Screech ordered. His voice had actually been loud when he said it. He dashed off into a nearby tunnel. Lightningstar and Sorrowpaw plowed after him. There was the sound of the dark one coming after them.

Lightningstar staggered to the side. Whatever had been done to her head, it was a lot of damage.

Luckily, she didn't have to worry about running. Screech had knocked something off the wall reveiling a tunnel. "Get in." he told them.

Lightningstar looked into the tunnel skeptically. "Seriously?" she asked.

"There's no time to argue." Screech hissed. "Just get in." He gave Lightningstar a little shove, and she jumped up to avoid smashing into the wall again.

The tunnel was slippery and going down, so Lightningstar was sliding farther down before she knew what was happening. Her head was spinning so wildly out of control at that point she had to close her eyes.

She could hear the sounds of claws scrambling to grip the ground and knew Sorrowpaw was inside too.

She couldn't hear the dark one, which was a good sing. She didn't hear Screech either, but that didn't mean he wasn't there.

Then the ground dropped out from under her. Before Lightningstar could scream she hit water. She had never been so happy she knew how to swim. Lightningstar kicked back up to the surface, gasping air in. Then she opened her eyes and let her eyes adjust to the lack of light.

Screech's and Sorrowpaw's eyes shone in the dark. "You two alright?" Screech asked.

"Fine." Lightningstar told him. She looked around. Sorrowpaw was gone. "Oh no." she said.

She dove under the water. She couldn't find Sorrowpaw. _No. _Lightningstar thought. _No I won't give up. _She stayed under water. If she lost a life doing so, at least her head would go back to normal. She felt fur.

Lightningstar gripped the fur and dragged Sorrowpaw. Sorrowpaw coughed water up as she surfaced. Lightningstar couldn't keep her up like this though. "Sorrowpaw! Kick!" she instructed.

Sorrowpaw started kicking. At first, it seemed to be doing more harm than good, and Screech came over to help. Then Sorrowpaw caught on. "I'm fine." She panted.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Lightningstar asked.

Sorrowpaw looked down. At least what could be passed as looking down when in the water. "I was just wondering where you were going."

Lightningstar sighed. "Well we need to get you out of here. It's not safe."

"You have to leave too." Sorrowpaw told her.

Lightningstar shook her head. "I need to help these cats."

Screech looked surprised. "Thank you Lightningstar." He said.

Lightningstar nodded. Sorrowpaw meanwhile, was looking up at the way they'd come in. "Is the dark one going to follow us."

Screech shook his head. "The hole's too small for a dark one."

"And it's too high for us to reach." Lightningstar pointed out.

Screech chuckled. "Yes. And even if we could reach, it would be too slippery to climb back up. Don't worry, there's another way out." He started swimming away. "This way."

Lightningstar and Sorrowpaw started after him.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

(I think this part goes a little back in time.)

Wingshadow awoke to someone nudging her. She recognized the scent before even opening her eyes. "Lizardpaw, what is it?" She groaned.

"Wingshadow," Lizardpaw whispered, "Lightningstar's missing."

Wingshadow snapped her eyes open and shot up. "What?" she asked, keeping her voice down. Pretty much everyone was asleep.

"Look around. Lightningstar's not here."

Wingshadow did so. Sure enough Lightningstar was gone. She went over to where Lightningstar had gone to sleep. Her scent was still there, and it made a trail away from the cats. Wingshadow sighed. She didn't want to worry the rest of the cats, but she couldn't leave without telling anyone too.

"Everyone up!" she shouted. That woke most of the cats up, but they must not have heard the urgency in her voice, because they didn't seem to trying to stay that way. Wingshadow bristled a little, impatient. "Lightningstar is missing!" Now that woke everyone up.

Everyone started talking in nervous voices. "Missing? Where did she go?" Stripedfur asked.

"Part of being missing is that no one knows." Zipfoot replied with an eye roll.

"What are we going to do about it?" Rainfall asked, in a different conversation entirely.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Wingshadow shouted, raising her voice even louder than Lightningstar did. Considering she wasn't leader yet, she needed to. Everyone shut their mouths. "I have a plan. Which if you had let me talk, you would've known." She hissed.

"You'll have to forgive us if we're a little terrified of our leader disappearing." Zipfoot said sarcastically.

Wingshadow stormed over. In her overly angery state she was getting dangerously close, and Zipfoot knew it. _Good. _She thought. _Let them be scared. Then maybe I can finish a sentence. _"Do you want to hear my very simple plan or not?"

Zipfoot nodded vigorously.

Wingshadow flicked her ear. "Good." She spun around and walked back to the front of the cats. "Her scent is still here, and there's a trail of it. All we have to do is follow the scent and we'll find her. It's possible she just went to hunt or something." Though knowing Lightningstar, Wingshadow found that highly unlikely.

Rainfall raised an eyebrow. "Well that's all fine and good. But what are we going to do about Sorrowpaw's disappearance?"

Wingshadow blinked. _Sorrowpaw? _She wondered. "W-What?" she stammered. On the plus side, the surprise had snapped her out of her anger.

"We usually only have three apprentices, now I only see two." Rainfall explained.

Wingshadow scanned the cats. Sure enough, Lizardpaw and Slitherpaw were the only apprentices she could see. "Alright. . ." she said, "I guess we'll split up. Some of us will follow Lightningstar's scent, the rest will follow Sorrowpaw's."

She started walking after Lightningstar's scent. "More splitting up." Rainfall muttered under her breath.

Wingshadow whipped around. "Neither of them could have gotten far, they might have even gone in the same direction!" she hissed. Though once again she was skeptical things were that simple. "Have you got a better plan?!"

Rainfall opened her mouth, shut it, and sighed. "No."

"Then let's _go_."

* * *

"Moonstar, who's your new cat?" Stormstar asked.

Moonstar blinked. Fade was standing nearby. And now that Stormstar had brought it up, other cats were starting to look over as well. "This is Fade." Moonstar introduced. "He joined us on our journey." She didn't want to mention the Twilight cats. But if anyone noticed Snowpaw's disappearance there wouldn't be a choice.

It didn't seem anyone had. "Are you going to give him his warrior name?" Nightwind asked.

"Already?" Blueblaze questioned.

Moonstar hesitated. Normally, she would give Fade his warrior name right away. But, much as she wanted to trust him, he was from the Twilight cats. "I'll give him his warrior name when we get to the new territory."

Shatterpoint and Fallenstar seemed to make a face when she said that. _What's that about? _Moonstar wondered. She turned to Blueblaze, wondering if they could talk about it. Then she saw he had the same expression. He quickly wiped it from his face when he saw she was watching. Moonstar felt there was a danger in whatever those three were thinking, and his attempt to hide it didn't help. She turned back away and took a deep breath. _It's nothing to worry about. _She told herself.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Lightningstar and Sorrowpaw walked close together in the lack of light. They were pretty much relying purely on their sense of smell and hearing now. "Where are we?" Sorrowpaw asked.

"We rarely go this deep into the twoleg caves." Screech explained. "But currently it's one of the safest places, and we've been going hunting here lately."

Lightningstar nodded. Then it occurred to her Screech probably couldn't see any better than her, so she quickly said "Okay. Does that mean we're going back towards camp?"

"I think so." Screech said. "But we should hunt first."

Lightningstar nodded. "Definetly."

She walked away, sniffing for prey. She couldn't find any. _No wonder these cats aren't doing well. _She thought. Then she heard movement. Except it was on the other side of the wall. Lightningstar highly doubted the wall was so thin she could hear on the other side of it. Dropping lower, she could see she was right. There was a small opening there. She squeezed herself through.

Here there was a lot more water. On the plus side, that meant there were fewer places for prey to hide. Lightningstar heard something pattering in front of her, moving away. She dashed forward, snatching it up in her jaws. She could tell it was a mouse despite the lack of light.

Unfortunatly, that seemed to have scared the rest of the prey away. She didn't have any luck after that, and couldn't go too far away for fear of losing her way.

Returning, she saw the others hadn't had any better luck than her. Screech had some scrawny creature he claimed only lived down here, which Lightningstar could believe considering she'd never seen it before. But Sorrowpaw hadn't caught anything.

Lightningstar set her mouse down. "I'm good." She said, even though she was starting to get hungry. "You can have this."

There was a pause, Screech was probably skeptical. "Okay. Thank you." He at the mouse. The entire thing.

Lightningstar blinked. "Shouldn't you leave some for the other cats?"

Screech looked up at her. "No one cat is in charge of the Midnight cats, so no one cat is more deserving of prey than another."

He began to walk away. Lightningstar watched him. She knew things worked differently here, but that statement bothered her.

Sorrowpaw padded up to her. "Why didn't you make him take it to the other cats?"

"Because," Lightningstar stated, "I'm not in charge here." Then she followed Screech through the darkness.

* * *

Winterfur was walking through the thunderpaths. They didn't seem like thunder to him. But sometimes, when he walked over parts of the path that didn't have plants on it, he thought he could tell why it was called that.

Winterfur was looking for herbs. That's when he saw Redspirit. She had caught a bird. He smiled. _Good. _He thought. _The more prey the better. _Then she opened her mouth. She was going to eat it.

"Hey! Wait!" Winterfur called, walking towards her.

Redspirit looked up innocently. "Yes?"

"We're not supposed to eat the prey. We have to take it back to camp." He explained. It didn't occur to him until after he spoke, that perhaps he shouldn't have said 'we'. As a medicine cat, he didn't catch prey.

Redspirit didn't seem to notice though. She looked down guiltily. "Oh. Right. I'm sorry. I forgot." She said miserably.

"Hey it's okay. You're not the first to forget." Winterfur assured her. And that was pretty much true. Of course it didn't help the majority of the clan was kits.

She still didn't seem happy.

"Don't worry about it." Winterfur repeated. "It's going to be fine."

Redspirit nodded. "Okay." She said softly. She picked up her bird and walked back towards camp. Winterfur watched for a moment before turning around and walking the other way.

(Sorry, I tried to make the chapter longer.)


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Lightningstar was alone. She had made sure of it this time, Sorrowpaw wasn't following her. Neither was anyone else for that matter.

She stopped. The dark one was nearby. Between the scent and the panting sound it was fairly easy to know when they were coming. But she didn't turn around. She let the dark on think she didn't know of its presence.

Then the dark one stopped too. That could only mean one thing. Lightningstar jumped out of the way just as a claw came pounding down. She lunged forward, digging her claws into the dark one. At least she tried. She started slipping. The dark one spun its head around, growling at her. It looked like a cat, only bigger, even for a dark one.

Lightningstar jumped off as it snapped at her. Then she dashed underneath, dragging her claws along its stomach. Still nothing seemed to happen.

_I need to rethink this. _Lightningstar thought. _I have the speed to dodge forever, but not the strength to do any damage._

She stepped backwards towards the wall. The dark one dashed her. She jumped out of the way and it smashed into the wall. A few rocks crumbled off the ceiling on impact. _Wow dark ones are dim. That's the same move I used as last time. _

But once again the dark one escaped from the wall. It jumped at her again. She dodged away. The dark one didn't smash into the wall again, the wall was too far away for that, but it did stumble on a rock.

_Get a rock from the ceiling to drop on it. _A voice in her head said.

Lightningstar blinked. That wasn't her voice, but it sounded familiar. The dark one attacked again. Lightningstar rolled away. _I suppose it doesn't matter where that came from. _She thought. _I won't have this energy forever. _

She zipped under the dark one, coming out on the other end of it. It didn't have time to react and she quickly looked at the ceiling. There was a hole in it where rocks had fallen, and nearby was a crack that made it look suspiciously like it too would fall.

The dark one struck again. This time, she didn't get away in time. Deep claw wounds appeared on her shoulder. But it didn't matter, she had a way to defeat the dark one.

Lightningstar jumped onto its leg and ran up it. The dark one lashed at her, but couldn't get to her. Then she reached the top of it, and it started rolling. Lightningstar knew that move, and if she ended up under a dark one it wouldn't be pretty.

She leapt into the air and dug her claws into the cracks of the ceiling to keep herself there. One of her paws hit the crack that was particularly fragile. There was a crumbling sound as it cracked further. She shoved her paw in as hard as she could. A junk of rock fell of the ceiling heading towards the dark one.

For a second, Lightningstar was worried it would manage to get out of the way in time. Then Sorrowpaw and Screech appeared. The dark one turned to them, ignoring the rock.

The only problem was, Lightningstar had fallen too! She saw the dark one's fur rush up to her, then she hit it and rolled away, and the world went black.

Lightningstar looked up. She still seemed to be in the twoleg made cave, but it was brighter now. And emptier. The dark one was gone, as were Screech and Sorrowpaw.

In fact, the only cat in there was, "Feathertail." Lightningstar said. Then she realized it. The voice she'd heard had been Feathertail's. She'd told her how to kill the dark one.

Feathertail gave her a small nod. "I'm sorry you had to lose a life doing this, but it was the only way I could think of that would kill this creature." She said, looking away.

_So I lost a life. _This had never happened when Lightningstar had lost a life before, so she was curious as to what was going on. But there was one other thing on her mind. "What was that creature?" she asked. Feathertail looked back up at her. "I mean, I know it was a dark one. But what was it . . . impersonating?"

"The tribe calls it a Sharptooth." Feathertail said. She was beginning to fade away, as was the light around them. The real location was coming back into view.

"Wait!" Lightningstar shouted. "How did you know what to do?"

"Because," Feathertail said, "I did the same thing on a real Sharptooth." Then she disappeared entirely.

Lightningstar awoke with a gasp. Sorrowpaw looked relieved to see her. Screech meanwhile looked confused. "But, that shouldn't be possible." He said. "You should be dead."

"It's a long story." Lightningstar said.

"Lightningstar?"

Lightningstar smiled. She recognized that voice. She turned around. "Hi Wingshadow."

"Lightningstar what are you doing? We've been looking all over for you."

"I'm sorry. I had to help kill a dark one for these cats." She waved her tail at Screech.

Screech nodded. "And we thank you for your help. We will let you go back to your cats now." He started to walk away.

"Just one question." Lightningstar said. Her voice came out a little icy.

Screech turned around. "Yes?"

"Who told you a clan cat would help you?"

"The purple eyed one." He said. Then he disappeared.

(Yeah, Feathertail didn't do the exact same thing to the real Sharptooth, but it's the same idea from what I understand. Also, three guesses who the purple eyed one is, and the first two don't count.)


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Stormstar lifted his head. He smiled. Lightningstar had shown up. She walked in with her clan, her head held high.

"Finally." Fallenstar half-groaned. "We've been waiting for way too long."

Lightningstar's eyes flashed with furry. "Look!" she spat. "You know nothing about what I just had to do, so don't go complain, 'Oh, I've had to do nothing. Poor me.'"

Fallenstar's expression looked like something between shock and furry.

Stormstar shook his head and got up. "Well, we're all here now." He turned to Lightningclan. "Will you be able to keep going?"

"Maybe they _can. _But they _won't_." Shatterpoint snarled.

_Oh no, not this again. _Stormstar thought.

Lightningstar looked at him curiously. "And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean we've gone far enough." Shatterpoint said. "We're out of the range of the poison rain. Now let's stop this journey before we're all killed!"

Stormstar walked up to him. "We've talked about this before. We're going to keep going forward to where Starclan. . ."

Fallenstar cut him off. "You might want to keep walking to your doom Stormstar, but I don't." Stormstar turned around and looked at him questioningly.

Moonstar's eyes grew wide. "No, no don't do this." She said. It came out a bit like a whimper. They both ignored her.

Fallenstar carried on. "This twoleg place is a lot like the one we lived in before, it will be no change for Fallenclan." He shrugged. "But if you want to take your clan to your doom that's fine with me."

"And if you go on, I for one am joining Fallenclan." Shatterpoint said.

"We're running out of prey! There's not enough food to live here!" Stormstar snapped impatiently.

"Stormstar, we lost a cat getting here!" Blueblaze shouted.

"Blueblaze, not you too." Moonstar said, her voice hushed.

Blueblaze carried on. "Did you notice Snowpaw is missing? Well guess what, that's because she's dead! And if we hadn't left she'd still be alive!"

"She could've starved! Like what would have happened to the rest of us!" Fangmouth responded.

That took everyone by surprise. They hadn't expected Fangmouth to go against his leader. Before anyone else could say anything, Lightningstar literally jumped into the middle of the argument. "Enough of this!" She hissed. "Fallenclan wants to stay here, fine, more room for us." She started to walk away.

"Lightningstar, how many lives did you lose fighting that dark one?" Rainfall asked.

Without turning to face her, Lightningstar's expression went first to shock, then to anger, much like what had happened to Fallenstar earlier. Lightningstar turned around. "Rainfall, having second thoughts?"

Rainfall shuffled her paws uncomfortably. Lightningstar was intimidating. "I'm just saying, you're losing lives fast. And . . . if you die we'll be stuck with Wingshadow."

"Stuck? You don't think I can be a good leader!?" Wingshadow spat.

"No." Moonstar whispered, shaking her head.

"To be blunt, NO!" Rainfall shot back at Wingshadow.

Then Wingshadow was on top of her. They began fighting. Lizardpaw leapt into the air to help her mentor, but then Emberpaw intercepted her.

That's when everyone started fighting. Who's clan they were in no longer matter, it just mattered if they thought they should go or stay. The only one not fighting was Moonstar.

Fallenstar knocked Stormstar's feet out of from under him. Stormstar hit the ground and Fallenstar leapt on him. Stormstar growled and lifted his head, sinking his teeth into Fallenstar's chest.

Fallenstar yowled and pulled away, giving Stormstar the chance to get up. But maybe that was a mistake. As soon as he did Fallenstar smacked him across the face. Stormstar's head snapped to the side. He shot his front paws forwards and found the wound he'd already given Fallenstar. He sunk his claws into that again and ripped.

Once again Fallenstar backed off, his breathing was coming out a little jagged now. Stormstar walked forward, glaring at him. He wasn't sure if he was going to kill Fallenstar, and he never got the chance to find out.

"FIRE!" Moonstar's voice echoed through the cats.

"What?" Stormstar said distantly.

Moonstar shoved him out of the way just as a burning branch came down. It landed where he had been a few moments ago. He turned to thank Moonstar, but she was already gone, leading her clan away.

_And we better move too. _Stormstar thought. He could feel heat all around him, and flames snapped and crackled, threatening to fall on them. The only reason the flames hadn't reached them yet was that there wasn't much to burn on this part of Thunderpath.

"Stormclan! This way!" he shouted. He led them down Thunderpath, it seemed the safest place. Meanwhile the fire continued growing around and above them.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Leader sat impatiently on top of his cave. He was waiting for his daughter Red. There were a few other cats, ones who worked for him, out there waiting too. He flicked his tail. Where is she?

Then Leader saw movement. There was a cat down there. He grinned when he recognized the slightly red pelt.

Red jumped onto the top of the cave with them. "Red." He greeted. "How has your mission been?"

Red frowned. Leader could already tell this wasn't going to be good. "Dad, I think maybe we should rethink things a little."

"Don't tell me you can't do it." Leader snarled.

"It's not my fault!" Red shouted, bristling. "Springstar has nine lives. How many times do you think I can kill her? And cats are everywhere! Especially that Autumnpelt."

Leader tilted his head. "Autumnpelt?"

Red nodded. "She's the deputy. And I swear she's more responsible than the leader."

Leader smiled. "Deputy, that means they'll be in charge after the leader next right?" Red nodded. "Well then kill her instead."

Red blinked. "Seriously?"

"I don't see why not. If what you said is true, and I know you would never lie to me, and Aututmnpelt is more responsible than Springstar, she'll be more vulnerable if you kill Autumnpelt."

Red got a thoughtful look. "Yes, yes I suppose so."

"Good. Now, go." Leader said.

Red nodded, smiling now. She turned around and jumped down the cave. "You can leave now too." Leader told his guards. They did so without question. That was the handy thing of having Apocalypse. If cats didn't want to listen to Leader, he just had to take them to Apocalypse and they'd never question him again.

He sighed. But now Apocalypse was gone, and he'd lost cats. This was why had to destroy Leafclan.

* * *

Fire shot out in front of Stormstar. He turned sideways to stop himself faster. Then Nightwind smashed into him and he fell into the fire. He rolled away, coming out on the other side.

The rest of his clan was still on that side though, and soon his patch of ground wouldn't be very safe.

"Get going!" Nightwind shouted. "I see a way for the rest of us to go."

Stormstar nodded, although it wasn't very likely anyone could see him through the flames. Then he felt pain in his feet. He jumped up. It seemed he was standing on embers. For some reason it made him think of his apprentice right away.

"Okay!" He shouted over to Nightwind, slowly backing away from the flames. "Move!" Then he turned around started dashing away down thunderpath.

Stormstar didn't get very far before the ground buckled. "Wow!" Stormstar shouted as he was jerked to the side.

Getting up, he could see he'd fallen off thunderpath. And the fire was no blocking him from returning. So he turned around and began bolting through the forest again.

_I need a way out of here soon. _He thought. _I don't even know how well my nine lives protect me if I get caught in a fire._

Then Stormstar saw an opening, beyond which the fire seemed to have stopped. Pushing himself, he shoved faster and leapt into the air. For a moment, he felt suspended up there, though he couldn't see anything through the smoke. Then he went plummeting down into water.

_Well, that explains why the fire isn't here. _He thought. He tried to swim out. It didn't work. Something was different about this water than anything else he'd had to swim in. It was full of mud and sticky plant like things, making it hard for Stormstar to move. He kicked his legs more forcefully, trying to break free.

Something grabbed his neck. It yanked. Stormstar wasn't sure what had him, but at the moment it was better than staying where he was, so he joined in trying to get himself above water. He was dragged onto land and sputtered, coughing water up.

He could see black paws near him. He started to look up, but he didn't need to see the cat's eyes to know who it was. No other cat had such muscular and jagged fur. "Violet." He crocked.

Violet gave a nod. "Good to see you again Stormstar." She said.

Then she turned around and started to climb up a tree. "Hey! Wait!" Stormstar shouted. He bounded after her. As he got higher he could tell they were some sort of swamp.

Violet stopped about halfway across a branch, she turned and looked back at him curiously.

Stormstar scrambled up onto the branch. "Aren't the wolves going to wonder where you are?" That was the first thing that came to mind on what he could say.

Violet shrugged. "It won't be the first time I left for a while. Besides," she turned around and came closer. "I had to save you."

"Why?"

Violet gave him an irritated look and flicked an ear. "Because Stormstar, I may live with wolves, but I still have some loyalty to my species."

Then she looked away and out into the fire. Stormstar sighed softly, but he could tell that was all he was getting out of her. He walked a little closer too, and sat down looking in the same direction as her.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

(Lots of characters means, lots of chapters that involve the fire somehow. Sorry this chapter's short.)

As Emberpaw ran through the burning forest, she tried to figure out how this had happened, because it had all happened so quickly.

Moonstar had shouted 'fire' and Stormstar had led them away. They had run down thunderpath for a while, then something had happened. . .

_Oh yeah. _Emberpaw thought. _I was kicked. _In the scuffle a cat had kicked her and she'd fallen thunderpath. Considering there was a slope, she'd just kept falling.

Emberpaw screamed, being brought into focusing mainly on the present by her leg setting fire. She dropped and slammed her paw into the ground, shoving it in the dirt, trying desperately to put the flames out. She heard some crackling and jumped out of the way just in time as more fire lit up, nearly hitting her.

Luckily her paw was out now, but there was no time to stop. Emberpaw slinked under some roots, where the fire wasn't as bad. Unfortunatly where she came out there was a lot of smoke. Emberpaw coughed. _Where are the others? _She wondered.

She dove through the forest, now blind from the smoke. That was also why she was soon dropping low again, gasping for air. _Never mind the others. _She thought, though right now she also had to think about breathing. _Where does this fire stop?_

Once again, she heard crackling. Except this time, it was coming from above her. Emberpaw's eyes widened. She looked up just in time to see a burning branch coming towards her. She let out a scream and tried to dodge. It didn't work. The branch hit her, and she remembered no more.

* * *

Lightningstar led her clan through the fire. Since Stormclan had taken the main thunderpath, they were stuck on a smaller, more dangerous one. Then the thunderpath buckled. Lightningstar was swung off her balance, and the ground came rushing up on her.

She pulled herself out of the fall. But when she tried to move she couldn't. Her foot had gotten stuck in the crack. "Lightningstar!" Wingshadow called. She dashed over to help her get her foot out.

"What's going on?" Blazepelt asked.

"Well apparently," Lightningstar grunted. "This fire is somehow causing an earthquake."

With another yank on her part, and another push and Wingshadow's part, her paw came free.

Lightningstar let out a hiss as pain hit her paw. Feathertuft's ears suddenly stood up straight. "Someone called for help." She said. Then she jumped off the thunderpath and tore into the trees.

"Feathertuft!" Blazepelt cried. He ran towards where she had disappeared, only as fire came up blocking his path.

Lightningstar tried to start forward to stop him from getting hurt, but when she set the paw down that had been stuck pain raced through her again and she stumbled. She might've been able to regain her balance if it weren't for the fact that thunderpath buckled again.

Lightningstar hit the ground. Blazepelt's nose set on fire but he managed to smother it. Lightningstar got up and glared at them. "Now listen," she hissed. "We are in a _fire_. And if we don't get out now, we're all going to be killed!"

The cats glanced around at the fire everywhere.

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Zipfoot demanded. "Let's get out of here!"


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Smokepaw spun around. He hadn't taken a step in a while, and it felt practically as if he was already on fire. He knew that wasn't true yet though.

He'd tried to keep up with Moonclan, but all he could smell was smoke, and all he could hear was the roaring of the fire. So it hadn't been long before he'd lost Moonclan.

A coal hit his shoulder. He yowled and jumped, rolling across the ground. _Enough of this! _He thought with a hiss. _I have to move, I'm just going to have to rely on touch._

Smokepaw charged off through the trees.Occasionally , his ability to feel wasn't good enough, and he'd get hit with flames. But he managed to avoid any serious damage. At least for a while.

Then he felt heat lick his paws again and stepped back. The roaring here was louder. That meant more fire. He couldn't get through where he was. He started walking in the direction that he thought felt cooler. It didn't work. He could still feel the fire to his side.

Then he started feeling it on the other side too. Smokepaw felt pain as his body tried to widen eyes he didn't have. With fire on both sides of him, it wouldn't be long before he was cooked. He had to get out of here, and there was nowhere to go.

His nose hit a tree trunk. _Well it's somewhere to go. _He unsheathed his claws and scrambled up. He climbed out onto a branch that seemed to take him farther away from the flames and smoke.

Then he heard a cracking, and not one caused by fire. Smokepaw gasped, his branch was going to break!

He leapt into the air just as the branch caved in. Then he flung each paw in a different direction, trying to find a new branch. One of his front claws hit a branch and he dug his claws in. He quickly swung his other front paw over. But he wasn't fast enough. His other paw barely caught the branch. His grip wasn't firm enough to pull himself up, and since he needed both paws to stay on the branch he couldn't readjust his grip.

For a moment Smokepaw dangled there kicking his hind legs. Then he felt himself slipping. "HELP!" he cried as loud as he could. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

To his relief and amazement, someone answered. "Smokepaw, hold on! I'll get you!"

He could tell from the voice it was Feathertuft from Lightningclan. She started climbing up the tree.

That's when Smokepaw fell off entirely. He let out a yowl. Feathertuft launched herself from the tree, catching him in her jaws. They landed on the burning ground, but Feathertuft leapt again, escaping the flames.

She set Smokepaw down. "What are you doing so far away from you clan?" she asked.

"I got lost okay!?" Smokepaw snapped.

Feathertuft sighed. "It doesn't matter. Let's just get out of here." She put her tail on his shoulder. "Follow me."

With her tail touching him, Smokepaw had a much easier time keeping with her.

"Squeeze." She requested.

_What. . . . _His thought got cut off as they hit some brambles. _Oh. _He squeezed himself smaller and crawled through the small tunnel.

"Now, we're going to swim." Feathertuft told him. "Be careful, it's not typical water."

"At least it means the fire can't follow." Smokepaw grumbled.

They exited the brambles and hit the water. Feathertuft had been right about it not being normal water alright. It was hard to swim through, and two cats had to help drag them up. Luckily it hadn't been a long swim.

"Feathertuft," Came the familiar voice of Lightningstar, "I know we're in a massive crisis, but what's he doing here?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out she was talking about Smokepaw.

"He got lost from his own clan. I'm not about to let him die." Feathertuft said.

Smokepaw was grateful for her saving his life, so he didn't show he was upset. But it would've been nice if she hadn't made him seem so helpless.

* * *

Emberpaw was awake, but barely. She was so near unconsciousness, it took her a moment to notice the pain. It was when she tried to open her eyes that she felt it. Pain seared through her. She kept her eyes firmly closed. But there was still pain in her body and she let out a small whimper.

For a moment there was a pause. Emberpaw hadn't noticed there had been voices earlier, but now that they'd stopped it was obvious.

It took a moment for the voices to start up again. "Well, at least she's alright." Emberpaw recognized that voice. It was Fangmouth.

"Yes." And that was Sliverstripes. "But . . . I'm not sure if she'll ever be the same again. That branch did some bad damage."

That's when Emberpaw remembered the branch hitting her. She was pretty sure, partly from the pain in her, that she's been hit in the head. _I'm never going to be the same again? Wait. They sound like I shouldn't have lived at all._ She let out a soft whimper again, but this time it didn't stop the conversation.

There was the soft sound of paw steps. "I don't like this Sliverstripes."

"Don't like what?" Sliverstripes asked. But her tone sounded like she already knew.

"None of this. Fallenstar is acting weird lately, he was never like this before he became leader of a clan. And this fire. It might've. . ." His voice lowered and Emberpaw had to strain to hear. "It might hurt our kits."

_Fangmouth and Sliverstripes are having kits?! _Emberpaw thought in disbelief. Her body tried to make her open her eyes in surprise. Pain racked through her again. This time she let out a huge yowl that wouldn't surprise her if it was heard for miles around.

Then her head hit the ground again, and she once again was knocked out.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The rain came pelting down, putting out the fire. Stormstar and Violet sat on their branch, a branch that didn't provide for cover. Stormstar looked at Violet. He couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Violet asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Nothing. You usually just seem so mysterious and powerful. But with all this rain you look a little like a drowned rat." Stormstar teased.

For a moment Violet smiled, really smiled. Then she sealed up. "Well, powerful I can't do anything about, but I think it's time to be mysterious again."

Violet climbed down the tree and walked away. It didn't take long for her to disappear entirely.

It wasn't long after she disappeared that Stormstar sensed someone else nearby. He turned his head. There was a blur as a starry pelt moved away from him.

Stormstar got up and followed the Starclan cat. Once he caught up the cat took full form. It was Bramblestar. "This wasn't here last time we came through."

"You said that with the wall too." Stormstar pointed out.

"Well things have changed a good deal. But you should be able to find your way through this. After that you'll be at the old clan territory." Bramblestar smiled at him, then disappeared.

Stormstar blinked. But his moment of confusion soon ended. On the other side of where Bramblestar had been, was his clan.

"Thank you." Stormstar whispered at the sky. He walked out of the bushes, appearing in front of them. "Hello everyone." He greeted.

"Stormstar! You found us." Nightwind exclaimed happily.

_I had a little help. _He thought. He didn't say it out loud though. He merely nodded.

"Stormstar, where's Emberpaw?" Angelwing asked.

Stormstar turned to her. "She's not here?"

Angelwing shook her head. "She disappeared. We were hoping she was with you. Since she's your apprentice and everything. . ."

"Right." Stormstar said, bowing his head in thought. his apprentice had gone against him in the clans' argument, but he wasn't about to leave her to die. "I have to find Emberpaw." He said. "Everyone stay close to this spot, we don't need more cats."

He turned around and started for the bushes.

Nightwind called after him. "Stormstar! You can't leave alone! It's not safe."

He turned around. "Actually, I think it's safest if I do just that." Then he disappeared through the bushes.

* * *

Moonstar felt a big wet drop hit her nose. She turned slightly, so she was looking up. It was raining. She smiled. _Oh good. It's safe._

"We can get out." Moonstar told her clan. She crawled out of the brambles. The rest of her clan followed. "Alright, give me a moment to make sure we're all still here."

"You've memorized everyone in this clan?" Dragonflame asked.

Moonstar nodded. Dragonflame gave her an impressed look. It was times like this Moonstar was glad Fallenclan had the most cats.

She frowned. "Where's Smokepaw?"

All the cats looked at each other, some giving helpless shrugs. Blueblaze promptly looked away when she turned to him.

"So he's missing?" Moonstar asked.

"Apparently." Brokenclaw confirmed.

"We can go look for him." Dragonflame offered, walking up.

"No." Moonstar said instantly. "You're expecting kits. You rest." Then she addressed the whole clan. "I have nine lives." No one pointed out she didn't have that many anymore. "I'll find him. The rest of you stay here. We'll figure out what to do from there."

Moonstar walked into the swamp, soon disappearing from the others' sight. She sniffed, but the only scent was smoke and ash. She stopped and sighed. How in the world was she supposed to find one apprentice in this mess?

Then she saw light that was amazingly bright for a dark swamp in the middle of the night. Moonstar looked up, it was a Starclan cat, and though it wasn't clear, she suspected it was Crowfeather. Windclan was the clan, after all, that chose her as leader.

He started walking away. For a moment she didn't follow. He turned his head. "Well are you coming or not?!" He snapped.

Moonstar chuckled a little despite herself. It was Crowfeather alright. And he seemed to have given up on being mysterious, since she could see his form clearly now. She started following him. "Not complaining or anything, but where are we going?"

Crowfeather snorted. "Well apparently, Bramblestar thinks your too mouse brained to find each other again. So we have to lead you around like kits again."

Moonstar decided not to point out she'd been feeling too mouse brained to find Smokepaw just a few moments ago.

"Ah, look." Crowfeather flicked his tail. Lightningclan was off to the side. They were on some sort of island surrounded by muddy water.

And there was a familiar face there. Smokepaw's head bounced up and he turned towards them. "Moonstar!" He called.

"Oh good. You're here." Lightningstar greeted.

Moonstar nodded. She turned to thank Crowfeather, but he was gone. Sighing, she jumped over to the island. "Thank you for making sure Smokepaw was alright." She laid her tail on his shoulder. "Now, we should get back to Moonclan."

"We might as well come with you." Lightningstar said. "We're all going to the same place anyway."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

(Holy Henrigen! The answer to what a henrigen is is a long story. Anyway, I come on today, and a guest has reviewed every chapter in this story. Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it.)

Stormstar looked up at the sky. At least it was where the sky would be if there weren't so many leaves blocking the view. He sort of wished Bramblestar had helped him find Emberpaw instead of the clan, the clan would've been easier to find.

Then Bravepaw from Fallenclan came bursting out. "Stormstar! Hi! We have Emberpaw."

Stormstar blinked. "You do?"

Bravepaw nodded. "He asked my mentor and I if we found you, to tell you. Come on." He started walking away. "Firestream! Stormstar's here."

Firestream came nearby. The two led Stormstar into the thouroughly wet clearing Fallenclan was in. Fangmouth and Sliverstripes sat near a cat burnt by the fire.

Then Stormstar gave a soft gasp. He knew that cat. "Emberpaw!" He cried. He ran over. "What happened?"

"She got hit by a burning branch." Sliverstripes said. She looked away. "She should recover."

Emberpaw shifted a little, but Stormstar suspected she was sleeping.

Stormstar nodded. Then he looked around. "Where's Fallenstar?"

Sliverstripes gestured up with her head. Stormstar looked up. Fallenstar was up there sitting in a tree. He climbed up to him. From here he could see the damage the fire had caused. He looked at Fallenstar. "Great place to stay huh?"

A look so dark flashed across Fallenstar's face he thought he was going to kill Stormstar for a second. Then it passed. "Well that's all fine and good, but how do we get to the old territories from here?"

"Bramblestar talked to me. He told me we'll find the territories on the other side of the swamp." Stormstar offered.

Fallenstar flicked an ear. He hadn't looked at Stormstar yet, and he still didn't as he said, "Of course he did. Fine. We will follow you to the other side of the swamp."

Stormstar nodded. He was about to go back down the tree when a thought occurred to him. The fire had gotten him so mixed up he wasn't sure which was the right way to go. So he climbed higher into the tree until he could see the edges of the swamp. One of them they'd already been to, so the opposite side was the direction they should go.

With that, Stormstar climbed down the tree. He picked up Emberpaw and started back towards where his clan was waiting. Fallenclan followed him.

* * *

Springstar was perched on a large metal can left behind from the twolegs. She had her eyes narrowed to see in the low light. While it was slightly annoying, she was glad there wasn't much light. It meant she wouldn't be seen.

The sky was starting to turn the light pink of sunrise when she saw who she was looking for. "Hello Redspirit, did you enjoy your little jont out of the territory."

Redspirit froze and her eyes grew wide as if a monster was coming towards her. She looked around, it took her a moment to find Springstar. "Yes actually." Redspirit said, her voice growing dangerously aggressive. "Is there a problem with that?"

Springstar jumped down and gave her a hard look. "Where were you?"

Springstar was already suspicious of Redspirit, so she saw what was coming next. Redspirit lashed out, aiming to claw Springstar's neck. Springstar tried to dodge, but Redspirit was much faster than she'd realized. She managed to claw the side of Springstar's face. Springstar started to turn so she was facing her again. Redspirit swiped, but Springstar suspected she'd do that and ducked. For a moment Redspirit seemed to have lost her balance and Springstar launched her paws out, knocking the only front paw Redspirit was now standing on. Redspirit lost her balance. Unfortunately she fell on Springstar and sunk her teeth into her back.

Springstar let out a yowl of pain. _What was I thinking coming alone? _She thought desperately. She could've brought _someone_ to help.

But it was too late for that. Now she had to focus on living. She dug her claws into Redspirit's side, it was the only part of her she could reach from this angle, and dug back. Fur and skin peeled back. Redspirit let out a cry, letting go of Springstar's back in the process. Springstar tried to escape, but Redspirit used her speed again. She pushed forward and jumped into the air, clawing Springstar's spine as she went. Springstar yowled again and fell to the ground. Redspirit dug her claws into Springstar's neck.

_No. . . _Springstar thought, _No I can't die. . ._

She tried to free herself, but it was too late for that. Moving only made Redspirit's claws go in further. Springstar let out a strangled gasp, it felt like Redspirit's claw had gone right from one end of her neck, to popping out the other end. Then she died.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Stormstar walked in front of the clans with the other leaders. Since he was in the lead, he was no longer holding Emberpaw. Angelwing was dealing with that.

Stormstar wasn't paying much attention to the world around him, until his paw hit the mud. He let out a yowl of surprise and tried to free his paw. It just sank farther. He gripped the ground with his other three paws, unsheathing his claws to stay. "Little help here." He requested, turning back around.

Moonstar and Lightningstar walked over and yanked him out. He let out a hiss when Lightningstar bit his ear and used it to pull, but aside from that their attempts worked wonderfully and he was soon out of the mud.

Fallenstar meanwhile was looking around. "This could be interesting to cross." He waved his tail at the mud. It was spread out much farther than the other mud they'd found here, and thanks to Stormstar it was clear they'd sink farther in it too. "Some of us might be able to use those rocks," He flicked his tail again to gesture, "But we won't all make it." He looked at Icepelt.

Stormstar supposed since she was expecting kits that would make it harder to jump. But he didn't have any better ideas.

Apparently, someone else did. "We don't have to stay on the ground." Moonstar said, looking up. "These branches should be long enough for us to cross on them."

Stormstar looked up. The intertwining branches seemed like they'd be enough to get the cats across. He let out a huff of a sigh. "Alright, let's get moving." He jumped to the trunk, dug his claws in, and started up.

Angelwing looked up, eyes wide. "Huh?" Emberpaw said distantly. She was, for the most part, awake. But currently she was too weak to walk.

"Emberpaw, give me your paw." Stormstar requested, lowering his own. Emberpaw raised her paw shakily. Stormstar took it and pulled her up as gently as possible.

"Stormstar. . ." Emberpaw croaked. "I'm sorry."

Stormstar shook his head. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I . . . sided against you." She trembled.

Stormstar couldn't deny that. He was going to try to think of something to say anyway, when Sliverstripes let out a yowl. He turned to see what was going on. Sliverstripes was out on a narrowly dangerous branch. It was creaking under her weight, threatening to break.

"Sliverstripes!" Icepelt cried. She started to come towards her.

"I'm fine!" Sliverstripes told her. "Stay there, this branch won't hold us both." She jumped. But as she did so, the branch broke and she started to fall.

Stormstar's eyes widened and he sucked a breath in. Then Fangmouth caught her. _That was close. _Stormstar thought, letting his breath out.

Fallenstar climbed up to Icepelt putting his head in her pelt. "Come on. Let's find a better branch." He led her away.

Stormstar nodded to himself. _Right. I should get moving. _He picked up Emberpaw by the scruff. She let out a little whimper, but aside from that was fine.

They all made it across safely across the mud and continued on the journey.

* * *

Autumnpelt looked up at the sound of footsteps. She hoped it was Springstar, who seemed to have disappeared without a trace. But it wasn't her. It was Redspirit. Autumnpelt hadn't even known she'd left.

"Autumnpelt!" she cried. "Help! Springstar, we got attacked. I think she's dead."

Autumnpelt's eyes widened. "Summerheart! Twinklepaw! Roughpaw! Let's go!" She called, waking them up.

They ran over. Redspirit followed too. "What's going on?" Roughpaw asked.

"Springstar's been attacked, we have to go help." Autumnpelt explained, not breaking her fast pace.

When they got there, Springstar was back to life, thanks to her nine lives. Redspirit's eyes grew so wide it looked like they were going to pop out. "But-but" she stammered. "You're supposed to be dead."

Springstar gave her a poisonous look. "Now how could you be so certain I was dead?"

_Where is Springstar going with this? _Autumnpelt wondered, feeling utterly confused. The realization hit her right before Springstar said, "It wouldn't be because you killed me now would it?"

Twinklepaw let out a gasp and Summerheart turned to her, taking a side step away. "Is that true?"

"What? No." Redspirit shook her head.

But lying was completely pointless at this point. "Springstar wouldn't have said that, if you hadn't killed her." Autumnpelt hissed.

What happened next happened too fast for her to react. Redspirit zoomed forward. She clawed Atumnpelt's face and Springstar's side. But Springstar reacted. She snatched Redspirit's tail and pulled.

Redspirit had been trying to get away, and now dug her claws into the ground to avoid being pulled back. Springstar kept pulling. If she let go, Redspirit would use her speed to get away. Then there was a rip, as Redspirit's tail came right off.

Redspirit let out a yowl that echoed through the empty two leg place. Springstar flinched at the sound and Redspirit used the opportunity to attack again. She stuck her claws into Springstar's chest and yanked up.

_Oh no you don't. _Autumnpelt thought. She rammed into Redspirit, knocking her down. Then Autumnpelt shoved her claws deep into Redspirit's leg until she heard a crack. "Can't use that speed now can you?" Autumnpelt growled.

"No." Redspirit whispered, fear in her eyes.

"Autumnpelt, don't." Springstar said.

Autumnpelt turned around, looking at her sister in surprise. Springstar gave a small shake of her head. "A warrior doesn't need to kill to win."

Autumnpelt looked at Redspirit, lying there pathetically. She reluctantly got off and walked back towards camp with the rest of her clan members. Her real clan members.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Ow!"

Stormstar turned around. "What is it?" He asked.

The cat who had cried out was Icepelt. She opened her mouth to answer, but the Fallenstar interrupted. "Are you having your kits?" He asked in concern.

"It's far too early for that." Sliverstripes objected.

Icepelt flicked her tail and gave them all an irritated look. "I'm not having my kits. I just felt pain."

"Ow! Same here." Zipfoot said, jumping back.

"Bees." Smokepaw said simply. Everyone turned to look at him. He just tipped his head up into a nearby tree.

Sure enough, there was a bee nest. And the bees weren't happy about the clans' arrival.

"Let's move." Stormstar said.

"For once, I agree." Fallenstar said. He put his tail on Icepelt and the two walked away, taking a wide path around the bees.

Smokepaw rolled his eyes. "Bees aren't the end of the world." He said. He started walking forward, not caring.

Then Fallenstar called out. "Hey! You guys might want to see this!"

The other leaders looked at each curiously. Moonstar shrugged and went over. Fallenstar seemed to have found a clearing. Then Stormstar got a closer look and sucked in his breath.

It wasn't a clearing, it was the end of the swamp. And there, sitting in front of them, were the old territories.

"We made it." Moonstar breathed.

For a while the four clans just sat there, staring out at their new homes. Stormstar could tell already this would be different from where they'd been before. There was a place that looked more like the swamp they were in than a forest. But it was still very similar, and it would be a good home.

Then Fallenstar jumped out and broke into action. "Fallenclan! This way!" He instructed. He led them towards the abandoned twoleg place nearby.

Lightningstar quickly followed suite, leading them towards an old barn much like the horse place.

Stormstar and Moonstar looked at each other. Stormstar gave a joking smile. "We better hurry up, before they've taken all the territory."

"I don't they could do that. But alright." Moonstar said. She was joking too, and she was smiling, but there was something off about it.

Stormstar was half way from the swamp to the old territory before he realized the smile she had been giving him was a sad smile.

* * *

It took them a while to figure out territory, and even though they had a rough idea, Stormstar doubted those ideas were set in stone. He'd gotten the swampy place, but so far he was okay with that. It wasn't as bad as the swamp they'd been in, more sun for one thing.

Stormstar got up and walked out of his den. He knew something he had to do. The only reason he hadn't done it earlier was because they'd still been trying to figure out where to live.

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey come out!" He shouted.

All of his clan came out. Even Emberpaw managed to make an appearance. Her wounds seemed to be recovering, but her fur needed to grow back in, and something was wrong with one of her eyes.

Stormstar carried on once everyone was there. "There is a cat here, who needs to be punished." He sighed. "I hate to do this, but I can't let cats go around thinking they can get away with anything. Shatterpoint," Shatterpoint's jaw dropped a little, much to Stormstar's annoyance. Did he really think he was going to get away with this? "You went against me earlier, and threatened to go to Fallenclan. Do you still wish to go there?"

All eyes were on Shatterpoint now. He crouched down under the pressure and shook his head.

"Good. I'd hate to lose a warrior. However, I am putting you on apprentice duties for the moon. Normally that would mean taking care of the elders. We don't have any of those, but I'm sure there are other apprentice duties for you to do."

(Darn it, short.)


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

(There are like, three forms of punishment in the clans.)

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here NOW!" Lightningstar roared.

Cats began to come out, but she could tell from their fearful eyes they knew she was angry.

"Rainfall!" She hissed when everyone was out. "You went against Starclan by suggesting we not come here. You also questioned Wingshadow's leading abilities and my own."

"I never questioned you!" Rainfall protested.

Despite being mad at her, Lightningstar had to admire her bravery. She doubted anyone else would've been able to say anything, based off their current expressions.

Lightningstar raised an eyebrow. "Oh you didn't? I chose my deputy. You said you didn't think she was a good choice. I wanted to come here, you didn't think we should." Her voice steadily grew more hiss in it. "Clearly, you do not think I know what's best for my own clan. What about the rest of you?!" She turned to address the rest of the clan. "Anyone else think myself or Wingshadow is unfit for leadership!?"

No one said anything, though there were a few head shakes. Zipfoot had a pained expression on his face. Lightningstar suspected he wanted to side with Rainfall since they were siblings, but she let it go. "Good." She said. She turned back to Rainfall. "Banishing you seems a little excessive. However, you are banned to stay in camp, and you will be on apprentice duties for two moons. I'm sure Sorrowpaw and Lizardpaw will appreciate the help."

Lightningstar started to walk away. "H-how long am I stuck in camp?" Rainfall asked.

Lightningstar turned back and looked at her, her expression scarily vacant. "I'll tell you when you can leave." Then she walked away.

* * *

Moonstar sat facing the wall. She didn't have to turn around to know who the cat that had just padded into her new den was. "Yes Blueblaze?"

"Moonstar, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I sided with Fallenstar. I know you didn't want to get in a fight."

He sounded like he really meant, in fact he probably did. Moonstar couldn't turn around and see his expression. "I know." She said soflty.

Without looking at him, or saying another word, she walked out of her den. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey come forward!" she waited for the cats to walk out. "I promised Fade he would get a warrior name when we got here. Well," she flicked her tail. "We're here. Fade, do you promise to defend this clan even with your life?"

"Yes!" Fade shouted proudly.

Moonstar gave a genuine smile. It felt good to do. "Then by the power of Starclan I give you your new name. You will be Fadetail."

Fadetail smiled. "Thank you Moonstar."

Moonstar nodded. Then she saw a few cats starting to leave. "Wait!" she called. "I'm not done yet." The cats came back over and looked at her curiously. "I, I am revoking Blueblaze as deputy."

Eclipsepelt gave a surprised look and Smokepaw demanded, "What?"

"No!" Blueblaze hissed. "You can't do that!"

Moonstar still didn't look at him, though maybe for a different reason. "Starclan gave me the privilege to choose a deputy. I'd assume they'd also give me the ability to remove that deputy."

"But. . ." Blueblaze tried to continue, but he didn't have anything to say.

"Who's going to be deputy now?" Fadetail asked.

"Dragonflame." Moonstar replied.

"What?" Smokepaw repeated.

Dragonflame's eyes grew wide with surprise. "M-me?"

Moonstar gave her a weak smile. "I can think of no one who has proven their loyalty better."

Dragonflame and Eclipsepelt looked at each other with pride. "Thank you Moonstar. I will do my best to serve as deputy."

Moonstar nodded. "And I'm sure you will succeed."

Then she turned around and walked back towards her den. She dared to snatch a look at Blueblaze before doing so. He didn't look like he could believe this was happening. Then he turned around and walked away in defeat.

_It's for the best. _Moonstar told herself. _You didn't even know Blueblaze when you made him deputy. Now you know enough about your cats to make the right decision._

(I'm sorry this story is going to be really short. And the next one possibly even more so.)


	29. Epilogue

Epilogue

Icepelt sat in the nursery. At least, so far it was the nursery. Fallenstar might change his mind about that. But Icepelt hoped not, she really didn't' want to do much moving now.

Sliverstripes walked in. "Hello Icepelt. Are you alright?"

Icepelt smiled. _Of course. She's here to check in on me. _Icepelt thought. "Yes I'm fine." Sliverstripes nodded and walked a little ways off to set down some herbs. "What about you?" Icepelt asked. "How are your kits?"

She couldn't see Sliverstripe's expression from where she sat, but she could see her freeze, and when she spoke there was a hint of panic in it. "Kits? What are you talking about? Medicine cats don't have kits."

"Well, that hasn't stopped you." Icepelt said. "I've had to spend most of my time with you since finding out I'm having kits. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Sliverstripes sighed and lowered her head. "You're right. I'm having kits, and I am unfit to be medicine cat."

Icepelt tipped her head. Sliverstripes might have broken the code, but she was definitely mean to be medicine cat. "I won't tell Fallenstar."

Sliverstripes turned to face her now. It looked like she'd been on the verge of crying, but now that had been stopped. "You won't?"

Icepelt shook her head. "No. In fact, I might be able to help. Are kits are due close to the same time, and I assume you don't know who's to say they are?"

"Well-" Sliverstripes started, then abruptly stopped. "My mate was going to talk to Firestream, but it would be more convenient to say they're yours."

Icepelt nodded. She suspected Sliverstripes had stopped because she'd almost said her mate's name. Icepelt didn't have a clue who the father was, and she wasn't going to push. "Then that's what we'll do." Icepelt said.

* * *

Stormstar walked out into the new territory. His intent was to find out where the other clans had marked their borders, but it soon became clear that would not be his only goal.

He stopped, hearing footsteps behind him. Stormstar turned around. Standing there, was Violet. It wasn't really a surprise to him this time. Violet was good at popping up unexpectedly.

"Hello Stormstar." She said. "Can we talk? Somewhere we'll be more alone?"

Stormstar nodded. "Okay." He trusted Violet.

She led him through his marsh like territory until they reached a more grassy area. Nearby stood a cave. He thought he saw a shine inside it that resembled the moon, but in the daylight it was hard to tell.

"This good?" He asked.

"Yes." For a moment, Violet kept walking away. Then she stopped, and turned her head to him. "There's something I have to tell you. . ."

(So I'm still a little undecided on what the next one's title will be, but it will most likely be called For Just a Little While with a four in parenthesis. Thank you to everyone who has read this.)


End file.
